#you need to do your own research with multiple sources vs asking one person to vet your work

[neon-moon-beam]

Addressing Ableism In The Submas Fandom And Its Impact Again

The fact that I know multiple neurodivergent people who have bad feelings arise from seeing any content, including official, of Warden Ingo due to an influx people turning the Submas fandom into an ableist playground in the wake of PLA speaks volumes.

Before I continue, I want to stress: I am not calling anyone in particular out.

Unknowingly making ableist content does not make you a bad person. Everyone still has things to learn, everyone has room for change and growth. Self-education and critical thinking are very important here (and everywhere). A desire to correct a mistake, change, and grow from it is better all around than digging your heels in and refusing to budge or listen.

I am not responsible for bad faith interpretations or other potential misinterpretations of me addressing these issues that have personally affected friends, acquaintances, and myself, should people choose to make these interpretations.

I am also not responsible for the reading comprehension or critical thinking skills of others. If you don’t read the entire post and choose to be reactionary towards it, including making assumptions about what was said or putting words in my mouth, I am not at fault.

Bl*nkshippers are not welcome on my content.

I can't begin to forgive the contingency of the fandom that made neurodivergent people feel unwelcome and alienated in their own space, and made them wonder if other Submas fans, or even people in general, even see them as human.

Given that it’s widely accepted that Ingo and Emmet are autistic-coded characters, the fandom could have been a safer and enjoyable space for neurodivergent (but especially autistic) people. It could have even been a refuge for people upset by the uncertainty we were left with due to PLA being incomplete. Instead, a large contingency of fans took one look at Submas and went "how sad/unhinged/angsty can I make the train blorbos?" and decided disability, trauma, and mental illness were acceptable to use as props.

To the people who have been doing things along these lines (but with especially Emmet!);  this tells neurodivergent people that you think they're unhinged, will hurt others if given an opening to do so, and portraying Ingo and/or Emmet as never having been human, turned into something nonhuman (as in Submas is singled out as nonhuman, and NOT in something like a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon AU or other AU where everyone is not human), or otherwise being not in control of their own actions is telling neurodivergent people that you don't even see them as human. And yes, you can be sending this message even if you yourself are neurodivergent!

Because of all this, I now know multiple people who do not want to see any content involving Warden Ingo, or PLA at all due to the negative association from the fandom, and even some who have stopped engaging with Submas in varying degrees.

I've made it very clear in other posts that I don't like how fandom is on tumblr for many reasons and that I do not consider myself part of the Submas fandom. But the Submas fandom has further turned me off to fandom as a whole, and I currently do not wish to engage with PLA content outside of making reassurance posts compiling evidence Ingo will or has gone home.

My roommate barely posts Submas art anymore because the pervasive ableism got to be too much. This is saying something considering she’s the author of the Submas primer many people, probably including many of those making ableist content, reblogged. She’s also the author of a post detailing Submas as autistic-coded characters. She’s been alienated from a community that she had provided a ton of research for! Please think about that for a second.

Other people don’t want to see Submas interacting with certain characters ever again (namely Volo), because of the ableist content created around their interactions, or even ships.

And if you’ve been around since at least PLA, you may have noticed that there are a few people who frequently posted about Submas as well as the ableism, who haven’t engaged with Submas content in a long time.

Fandom shouldn’t become an alienating or even hostile space for people who just want wholesome or comforting content, or simply want to see characters they like or even find representation in NOT being treated as ableist puppets or being so ooc with angst and ableism they’ve essentially become the artist or writer’s OCs. But unfortunately that's the track the Submas fandom seems to frequently head down in the wake of PLA.

If you’d like more info about the ableism that has been going on in Submas fan content, there is a list of posts here, but this is by no means exhaustive.

This is a post I previously referenced in one of my posts about the ableism about the issue of making Emmet violent and traumatized for entertainment purposes and why it’s problematic to use trauma as a prop.

And here is a post I made (with my roommate’s addition) addressing the issue of people thinking ableist portrayals aren’t harmful or don’t have an impact on real people.

And if you’re going to continue to make ableist content of Submas (or any other fandom) without any regard as to how your work impacts others, then there isn’t much anyone can do. But don’t be surprised if people choose not to engage with you or your content.

Thank you for your consideration.

#Submas #Ingo #Emmet #Ingo Pokemon #Emmet Pokemon #Warden Ingo #cw: ableism #I am really worried about tagging this as always but the issue is still prevalent #And I'm tired of friends feeling like they can't engage with content they would normally want to #And it especially bothers me that friends have told me they feel dehumanized by fan works for Submas that isn't right for anyone AT ALL #and just in case someone wants to attack me over this? you'll be blocked and messages or replies etc deleted #also I'm by NO MEANS an authority on Submas or ableism here...I can advocate but do not ask me to vet your work for you #you need to do your own research with multiple sources vs asking one person to vet your work

[colorisbyshe]

hello, I recently saw a post by yiu talking about Palestine and I wanted to ask, what sources do you consider trustworthy in thus matter?

I'm sorry if it comes out as weird that I'm asking you but I just don't know where else to ask

Hind, Plestia, Motaz, and Bisan are the most consistent and "real" people to follow in that they very regularly update, are speaking quite bluntly and on a personal level, and try to show current events on multiple levels--not just recording the violence, the death, but also the daily lives. Think of reporting "Oh, there's finally aid trucks in the area" which states what things are TECHNICALLY happening vs Bisan just saying "Yeah, the aid trucks are here and no one is getting fed."

There's also Mohammed El Kurd who really shines a blunt light on the reality of what's happening.

Al Jazeera is good. There are issues with Al Jazeera being funded by Qatar but their reporting when it comes to Palestine is pretty good.

I think Adam Johnson is pretty great in terms of responding to American/Western actions and contextualizing/pushing back against American Political Speak.

Euro-Med Monitor probably has the most accurate death counts for what is happening in Palestine, as they also include bodies under the rubble which are presumed dead.

Also, Muhammad Smiry sometimes runs live streams so you can see what's happening on the ground and just answers questions. I only just now remembered him.

But I need to be honest and clear here: in many ways, I am a bad source to give you good sources. I am a lay person. A white citizen in America. Even when I try to get as much of this directly from Palestinians or groups on the ground (like doctors without borders who have issues but have been reporting very openly about the reality on the ground), I do not have the most in depth knowledge. I was not following this closely before October 7th.

I am far from immune from bad information.

So, more than just hitting subscribe or follow on anyone listed. I recommend you devise your own set of tools to find good peopel to follow on twitter and instagram. Ask yourself questions like:

Who is this person? Who do they work for? Who owns what they work for?

Where are they from? What is their connection to Palestine?

Is what they're saying racist against Arabs/Palestinians?

Is what they're saying antisemitic? (And people are SLACKING on this front.)

If they are not on the ground themselves, where are they getting their information from?

Are they known conservatives?

Pause--does it seem like they are using this tragedy for personal gain somehow?

Are they posting primarily information or commentary? If they aren't Palestinian or in any way connected to this, what perspective is tehir commentary coming from? What is its value?

(To be clear, not all commentary is bad. Again, I like Adam Johnson because he is providing commentary aimed primarily at his lane--media bias in the US, political dishonesty, and similar bullshit. He runs an entire, fairly well sourced podcast on the subject in general and is just applying those skills... to current events.)

I'm definitely missing some people/groups worth following. I'm also perhaps over-emphasizing how much you should be following Bisan and company. Definitely follow them, don't let them be your only source of information. Diversify. Do you own historical research--don't just look to people to post current events, look into the past to better understand context. Fall down a rabbit hole or two.

Umm.... I guess beyond all that just DONT follow fucking Shaun King. Known grifter. And everyone pleaseeee stop cheerleading clips from Piers Morgan. It's mostly stopped now but in the beginning some of y'all were stressing me out.

[aeide-thea]

there’s something really fascinating to me (and frightening tbh!) abt a worldview that says ‘i’m going to ask whatever people happen to be in front of me, who don’t have any particular credentials or relevant expertise/experience i can verify, abt X topic,’ vs a worldview that says ‘i’m going to go do my own independent research abt this’?

like. watching a whole argument unfold rn abt like. antisemitic bias in the story of jesus and ths moneychangers in the new testament and multiple Uninformed Christians have asked one of the tumblr users involved in the conversation things like ‘could you point me to some sources for this?’ and even ‘what’s wrong with the KJV?’ and i’m like. literally why would your first step here not be, idk, wikipedia even! esp when this person has already said ‘my response is a synthesis of various sources i’ve forgotten and i don’t have anywhere to point you’—that clearly isn’t someone who can provide citations and if you need them, which one always should, you should be doing some independent research, because frankly this person has a stance of their own and even if it’s largely correct, which i’m inclined to think it is bc the NT has an agenda that involves painting jesus as enlightened in all his actions and his non-christian contemporaries as benighted, you ought to be trying to confirm that with evidence from a different, scholarly source! ideally sources plural!

though of course if you don’t feel equipped to do independent research, or to evaluate the validity of what such research might turn up, then i can understand why you might look to others to spoonfeed you; but even then, god, the level of naïveté in assuming that randoms you encounter online are both sufficiently knowledgeable and sufficiently trustworthy for you to just—open up expectantly for whatever it might occur to them to offer you?

anyway, yeah, i did get the impression the folks involved were american and i do think ultimately this all speaks to how poorly most americans’ educations (which i’m pretty tempted to put in scare quotes, i admit) equip them to research and evaluate anything for themselves, such that they’re unsettlingly eager to set up total randoms as Authorities whose assertions they’ll treat as word of god (a loaded description here but honestly, i think, an appropriate one; these are christian sheep in search of a shepherd) if only the person sounds certain enough!

#no real conclusion here but like. scary tbh #i didn’t quite realize how fundamental a divide this was until my dad moved out of the city in 2020 #and it became clear that small-town ppl‚ or anyway the small-town ppl we met‚ really base their stances on what their neighbors endorse #even when said neighbors are actually just. factually wrong in ways that are easily verifiable #but actually checking would involve a very different worldview than just. believing what dick and pat down the road say abt the issue #anyway it was uh. a really eye-opening experience for me tbh #and really left me feeling. not super optimistic tbh. #anyway i thumb-typed all of this so. i will be stopping now lol #metatumbling #hard to talk abt this without sounding condescending and i don’t know that i’ve managed it #but really if anything it’s not so much that i think i’m Above ppl who think like this #as that i worry i’m going to wind up trampled under their boot soles #in their rush to soak up the preaching of every tom‚ dick‚ and demagogue

[writingwithcolor]

Fairy Tale Retellings with POC

@anjareedd asked:

Hello, Writing with Color! First of all, thank you for all you do. Second, do you have any advice for a white person retelling fairy tales, both European fairy tale and non-European fairy tales? Is it okay to retell non-European fairy tales? I would feel bad if all fairy tales I retold were European as those are over represented, but given how much white people have erased and whitewashed other culture's fairy tales I understand if that were off-limits for a white person. Thank you!

Fairy tale retellings are my favorite thing. I love reading, rewriting and creating new fairy tale-style stories with People of Color!

As you write, keep in mind:

European does not mean white. 

The possibility of PoC in European or Western historical settings tends to throw off so many. There are plenty of European People of Color, then and today. You can have an Indian British little red riding hood and it isn’t “unrealistic.” And we wanna read about them!

Still, research the history of your settings and time period. Use multiple credible sources, as even the most well-known ones may exclude the history of People of Color or skim over it. The stories might be shoved into a corner, but we live and have lived everywhere. The specific groups (and numbers of) in a certain region may vary, though. 

How and when did they or their family get there, and why?

Has it been centuries, decades, longer than one can remember?

Who are the indigenous people of the region? (Because hey, places like America and Australia would love to have you believe its earliest people were white...)

Is there a connection with the Moors, trade, political marriage; was it simply immigration?

No need to elaborate all too much. A sentence or more woven into the story in passing may do the trick to establish context, depending on your story and circumstance. 

Or if you want to ignore all of that, because this is fantasy-London or whatever, by all means do. POC really don’t need a explanation to exist, but I simply like to briefly establish context for those who may struggle to “get it”, personally. This is a side effect of POC being seen as the Other and white as the default.

Although, if PoC existing in a fairy tale is the reader’s biggest stumbling block in a world of magic, speculation, or fantasy, that’s none of your concern.

Can you picture any of the people below, or someone with these backgrounds, the protagonist of their own fairytale? I hope so!

Above: Painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle (1760s - 1800s), British Heiress with her cousin. Check out her history as well as the movie, Belle (2013).

Source: English Heritage: Women in History - Dido Belle

 Above: Abraham Janssens - The Agrippine Sibyl - Netherlands (c. 1575)

“Since ancient times Sybils were considered seers sent by god, priestesses foretelling the coming of great events. This model serves to depict the Sybil of Agrippina, one of the 12 that foretold the coming of Christ. Notice the flagellum and crown of thrones which are symbolic objects reminding the viewer of Christs suffering.”  X

Above: “Major Musa Bhai, 3 November 1890. Musa Bhai travelled to England in 1888 as part of the Booth family, who founded the Salvation Army.” X

Above: Eleanor Xiniwe and Johanna Jonkers, respectively and other members of the African Choir, who all had portraits taken at the London Stereoscopic Company in 1891. 

“The African Choir were a group of young South African singers that toured Britain between 1891 and 1893. They were formed to raise funds for a Christian school in their home country and performed for Queen Victoria at Osborne House, a royal residence on the Isle of Wight.” X

The examples above just scratch the surface. Luckily, more and more historians and researchers are publishing lesser known (and at times purposefully masked) PoC history.

More Sources 

PoC in History (WWC Search Link)

POC in Europe (WWC Search Link)

The Black Victorians: astonishing portraits unseen for 120 years

Hidden histories: the first Black people photographed in Britain – in pictures

Let’s talk about oppression and slavery 

There is a hyper-focus on chattel slavery as if the times when and where it occurred is the only narrative that exists. And even when it is part of a Person of Color’s history, that is seldom all there is to say of the person or their lives. For example, Dido Elizabeth Belle.

People of Color were not all slaves, actively enslaved, or oppressed for racial reasons at all times in history! Dig deep into the research of your time period and region. Across the long, wide history of the world, People of Color are and were a norm and also NOT simply exceptions. Explore all the possibilities to discover the little known and seldom told history. Use this as inspiration for your writing.

PoC (especially Black people) were not always in chains, especially in a world of your making. 

Don’t get me wrong. These stories do have a place and not even painful histories should be erased. I personally read these stories as well, if and when written by someone who is from the background. Some might even combine fairy tale, fantasy, and oppression in history. However...

There are plenty of stories on oppressed PoC. How many fairy tales?

Many European tales have versions outside of Europe. 

Just because a tale was popularized under a western setting doesn’t mean that it originates there. Overtime, many were rewritten and altered to fit European settings, values and themes.

Read original tales. 

You might be inspired to include a story in its original setting. Even if you kept it in a western setting, why not consider a protagonist from the ethnicity of the story’s origin?

For example: the Cinderella most are familiar with was popularized by the French in 1697. However, Cinderella has Chinese and Greek versions that date back from the 9th Century CE and 6th Century BCE, respectively. 

Choosing a Setting: European or Non-European?

I do not see anything wrong with either (I write tales set in western and non-western settings, all with Heroines of Color). There is great potential in both.

Non-Western Settings (pros and cons)

Normalizes non-Western settings. Not just the “exotic” realm of the Other.

Potential for rich, cultural elements and representation

Requires more research and thoughtfulness (the case for any setting one is unfamiliar with, though)

European or Western Setting (pros and cons)

Normalizes PoC as heroes, not the Other, or only fit to be side characters.

Representation for People of Color who live in Western countries/regions 

Loss of some cultural elements (that character can still bring in that culture, though! Living in the West often means balancing 2+ cultures)

Outdated Color and Ethnic Symbolism 

Many fairy tales paint blackness (and darkness, and the Other) as bad, ominous and ugly, and white as good and pure. 

Language that worships whiteness as the symbol of beauty. For example: “Fair” being synonymous with beauty. Characters like Snow White being the “fairest” of them all.

Wicked witches with large hooked noses, often meant to be coded as ethnically Jewish people. 

Don’t follow an old tale back into that same pit of dark and Other phobia. There’s many ways to change up and subvert the trope, even while still using it, if you wish. Heroines and heroes can have dark skin and large noses and still stand for good, innocence and beauty.

Read: Black and White Symbolism: Discussion and Alternatives 

Non-European Fairy tales - Tips to keep in Mind: 

Some stories and creatures belong to a belief system and is not just myth to alter. Before writing or changing details, read and seek the opinions of the group. You might change the whole meaning of something by tweaking details you didn’t realize were sacred and relevant.

Combine Tales Wisely: 

Picking stories and beings from different cultural groups and placing them in one setting can come across as them belonging to the same group or place (Ex: A Japanese fairy tale with Chinese elements). This misrepresents and erases true origins. If you mix creatures or elements from tales, show how they all play together and try to include their origin, so it isn’t as if the elements were combined at random or without careful selection.

Balance is key: 

When including creatures of myths, take care to balance your Human of Color vs. creatures ratio, as well as the nature of them both (good, evil, gray moral). EX: Creatures from Native American groups but no human Native characters from that same group (or all evil, gray, or too underdeveloped to know) is poor representation.

Moral Alignment: 

Changing a good or neutral cultural creature into something evil may be considered disrespectful and misappropriation. 

Have Fun! 

No, seriously. Fairy tales, even those with the most somber of meanings, are meant to be intriguing little adventures. Don’t forget that as you write or get hung up on getting the “right message” out and so on. That’s what editing is for.

--Colette  

#writing advice #representation #history #people of color #writing #fairy tales #fantasy creatures #supernatural beings #guides #long post #slavery #slavery mention tw #culture #images #asks

[chipotle]

Panic's Nova text editor (a review)

Review: Panic’s Nova text editor

Panic, the long-established makers of Mac utility software, seems fully aware that introducing a new, commercial code editor in 2020 is a quixotic proposition. Is there enough of an advantage to a native editor over both old school cross-platform editors like Emacs and explosively popular new editors like Visual Studio Code to persuade people to switch?

I’m an unusual case as far as text editor users go: my primary job is technical writing, and the last three jobs that I’ve worked at have a “docs as code” approach, where we write documentation in Markdown and manage it under version control just like source code. The editor that works best for me in tech writing is the venerable BBEdit. When it comes to editing code, though, BBEdit lags behind. My suspicion is that BBEdit’s lack of an integrated package manager has hurt it here. Also, BBEdit’s language modules don’t support extending one another, making it effectively impossible to do full highlighting for a templating language like JSX or Jinja.

When I was a web programmer, I was one of many who moved to TextMate, and used it for everything for a while. When the Godot-like wait for TextMate 2.0 became unbearable, I wandered the text editing wilderness, eventually splitting my loyalties between BBEdit, Sublime Text, and more recently VS Code. At this point, I suspect nothing will pull me away from BBEdit for technical writing, but for programming I’m open to persuasion.

So: meet Nova.

I’ve been using Nova off and on in beta for months. I’ve reported some bugs, although I may mention a couple here that I didn’t catch until after 1.0’s release. And, I’m going to compare it to the GUI editors that I’ve been using recently: BBEdit, Sublime Text, and VS Code.

Nova is a pretty editor, as far as such things go, and with files of relatively reasonable size it’s fast. With stupid huge files its performance drops noticeably, though. This isn’t just the ridiculous 109MB, nearly 450,000-line SQL file I threw at it once, it’s also with a merely 2MB, 50,000-line SQL file, and Nova’s offer to turn off syntax highlighting in both files didn’t help it much. This may sound like a silly test, but in my day job I’m occasionally stuck editing an 80,000-line JSON file by hand (don’t ask). This is something BBEdit and VS Code can do without complaint. Panic wrote their own text editing engine for Nova, which is brave, but it needs more tuning for pathological cases like these. They may not come up often, but almost every programmer has one stupid huge file to deal with.

Nova has an integrated terminal and an integrated SSH client, and even an integrated file transfer system based on Panic’s Transmit. In fact, if you have Transmit and use Panic Sync, it knows all of those servers out of the box. Nova has a task workflow system for automating building and running. You can associated servers, tasks, and more with individual projects; Nova’s project settings are considerably more comprehensive than I’ve seen in other editors. You can even set up remote tasks. Nova has a serviceable Git client built in, too. Like VS Code, Nova uses JavaScript for its extension API, and it has built-in Language Server Protocol support—it’s a superbly solid foundation.

Beyond that, some smaller features have become table stakes for modern GUI editors, and Nova handles them with aplomb. “Open Quickly” can jump to any file in the open project, as well as search by symbols or just symbols in currently open files; it has a command palette; you can comprehensively edit keybindings. It has multiple cursor support for those of us who like that, and a “mini map” view for those of you who like that, although know that you are wrong. Nova’s selection features include “Select all in scope” and “Select all between brackets,” a command I often use in BBEdit and miss dearly in Code. (Both Nova and BBEdit select between brackets and braces, although BBEdit also selects between parentheses.) This effectively becomes “Select between tags” in HTML, a nice touch. There are a few other commands like “Select all in function” and “Select all in scope” that I didn’t have any luck in making work at all; a little more documentation would be nice.

That’s worth an aside. Panic has created a “library” of tech note-style articles about Nova sorted by publication date rather than an actual manual, and it’s not always easy to find the information you want in it. I know this is just what a technical writer would say, but I’d dearly like to see a human-organized table of contents starting with the editor basics and moving to advanced topics like version control, server publishing and extension authoring.

The Zen of Language Servers

A lot of Visual Studio Code’s smarts depend on the implementation of a “language server” behind the scenes: language servers offer almost spookily intelligent completion. For instance, take this PHP snippet:

if ($allowed) { $response = new Response(405); $response->

If you have the Intelephense PHP language server plugin, Code understands that $response is an instance of Response and, after you type the > above, offers completions of method names from the Response class.

Right now, Nova’s mostly limited to the language servers Panic provides, and they’re… not always so smart. In that snippet above, Nova starts by offering completions of, apparently, everything in the open project, starting with the variables. If I type “s,” it narrows things down to methods that begin with “s,” but it’s all methods that start with “s” rather than just the methods from Response. The “Jump to Definition” command shows a similar lack of context; if I highlight a method name that’s defined in multiple places, Nova shows me a popup menu and prompts me to choose which one to jump to, rather than introspecting the code to make that decision itself.

But, this is a solvable problem: there’s (I think) no reason someone couldn’t write an Inteliphense plugin for Nova. If Nova’s ecosystem takes off, it could be pretty formidable pretty quickly.

Walk like a Mac

Even so, LSP support isn’t Panic’s biggest selling point. Unlike Sublime Text or VS Code, Nova isn’t cross-platform: it’s a Mac-only program written to core platform APIs. Is that still a huge draw in 2020? (Is it instead a drawback?)

You can definitely see a difference between Nova and BBEdit on one side and Sublime and Code on the other in terms of resource usage. With the two Ruby files shown in the screenshot above loaded, I get:

VS Code: 355 MB, 6 processes

Sublime Text: 338 MB, 2 processes

Nova: 101 MB, 2 processes

BBEdit: 97 MB, 1 process

Code is an Electron-based program, although Microsoft famously puts a lot of effort into making it not feel like the black hole a lot of Electron-based apps are. Sublime uses its own proprietary cross-platform framework. In fairness, while us nerds like to harp on research usage a lot, if your computer’s got 16G or more of RAM in it, this probably isn’t a big deal.

You notice Nova’s essential Mac-ness in other ways. Its preference pane is, like BBEdit’s, an actual preference pane, instead of opening in another tab like Code or just opening a JSON file in a new tab (!) like Sublime. And while all editors better have first-class keyboard support—and Nova does—a good Mac editor should have first-class mouse support, too, and it does. You notice that in the drag-and-drop support for creating new tabs and splits. Nova’s sidebar is also highly customizable, possibly more so than any editor I’ve regularly used. (Yes, Emacs fans, I know you can write all of Nova in Lisp if you want. When one of you does that, please get back to me.)

Unlike BBEdit, though, Nova doesn’t have a Mac-like title bar, or a Mac-like outline view of the project files, or Mac-like tabs. (Well, BBEdit doesn’t have tabs at all, which turns out to be a great UI decision once you have a dozen or more files open, but never mind.) This isn’t necessarily bad; people often say BBEdit “looks old,” and it’s hard not to suspect that what people mean by that—whether or not they know it—is that it looks like the long-established Mac program it is. Nova is relying less on “we have a Mac UI and the other guys don’t” than on “we have Panic’s designers and the other guys don’t.” Make no mistake, having Panic’s designers counts for a lot.

What may be more disappointing to old school Mac nerds is AppleScript support: none whatsoever. It doesn’t even have a vestigial script dictionary. Again, this may not be something most people care much about; personally, I hate having to write AppleScript. But I love being able to write AppleScript. BBEdit’s extensive scriptability is one of its hidden strengths. Nova’s Node-based JavaScript engine is probably more powerful for its own extensions and certainly more accessible to anyone under the age of 50, but it may be hard to call it from external programs.

So is it worth it?

That probably depends on where you’re coming from.

If you loved—or still use—Panic’s older editor, Coda, this is a no-brainer upgrade. If you used Espresso, a Coda-ish editor that always seemed to be on the verge of greatness without ever reaching it, Nova may also be a no-brainer for you.

If you’re a fan of Sublime Text, BBEdit, TextMate, or another editor that doesn’t have native Language Server Protocol support, you should definitely try Nova. Sublime and TextMate have more plugins (especially Sublime), but many extensions seem to be languishing (especially TextMate). BBEdit never had a great extension ecosystem to start with. All of these editors have strengths Nova doesn’t, but the reverse is also true, and Nova may catch up.

If you’re an Emacs or Vim power user, we both know you’re just reading this out of academic interest and you’re not going to switch. C’mon.

If you use Visual Studio Code, though, it’s way tougher to make the case for Nova. Code has a vastly larger extension library. It has the best support for LSP of any editor out there (LSP was developed for Code). Despite being Electron-based, it’s pretty high-performance. Code doesn’t have an integrated SSH or FTP client, but it does have an integrated terminal and task runner and Git client. If you don’t object to using an editor that isn’t a “perfect fit” with the Mac UI, Code is very, very good… and it’s free.

I don’t object to Nova’s pricing model—$99 up front including a year of updates, $49 for future years of updates—but I can’t help but wonder if Panic should have gone with super aggressive introductory pricing. Also, I saw more than a few suggestions on Hacker News about how there should be a Code-to-Nova extension translator; I’m not sure automatic conversion would be practical, but a guide on manual conversion seems like an excellent idea.

For my day job of technical writing, I’m going to stick to BBEdit. (One day I’ll write up an article about why I think it’s the best “documentation as code” editor on the market.) For programming and web editing, when I was working on both a Ruby and a PHP project—the former a Rails learning exercise, the latter an obstinate “I am going to write a modern PHP app without using a framework” exercise—I kept trying Nova’s betas and then switching back to Code for Inteliphense and, I swear to God, MacVim for Tim Pope’s amazing rails.vim plugin. I suspect Nova could duplicate both of those, but I’m not sure I want to be the one to do it. (Also, while Panic has decent reference documentation for writing extensions, I’d like to see a few simple end-to-end walkthroughs for those of us who look at a huge list of reference topics and don’t know where to start.)

But Nova isn’t just pretty, it’s powerful, and has a lot of promise. The editors I’ve been comparing it to have been around since 2015 for VS Code, 2008 for Sublime Text, and 1992 (!) for BBEdit; it’s not reasonable to expect Nova to blow past them in every respect right out of the starting gate. Even so, they are Nova’s competition. Catching up fast is an essential requirement.

So: yes, I’ve bought Nova, and I’m rooting for Panic here. I’ll come back in a year and report if I’m willing to stay on the update train.

[iwbfinterviews]

Jake Brown Interview

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Is there a particular reason you chose to write about music, singers, etc?

I didn’t actually, lol.  I’m a songwriter/producer first, I grew up playing and writing music but always wrote as a way to kind of get through school because I was terrible at math, sciences, tests, etc.  I think there’s alot of people in the music business who started out like that.  It kind of happened accidentally, I was working for a record label right out of college and started writing copy for their catalog titles, press releases, etc and it just expanded from there.   I met a literary agent through that who suggested I try to write a book, and we sold the Suge Knight memoir to Amber Books, who gave me my start.  Another big early foot in the door moment was when I had the opportunity to write books with Ann and Nancy Wilson & Heart in 2007 and in 2009 with Lemmy Kilmister and Motorhead.  Then the book nearly 10 years into my career that really kind of made me appreciate this career was the opportunity to work with legendary guitar player Joe Satriani on Strange Beautiful Music: A Musical Memoir.  I’d also started specializing in anthology-style books that feature LOTS of exclusive interviews in one book in chapter profiles so you could tell a bunch of people’s live stories at once, including the BEHIND THE BOARDS series, which began 10 years ago as a Rock & Roll producers’ series, the aforementioned In the Studio series with Heart, Motorhead, and others, and then finally about 10 years into living in Nashville I began working on the NASHVILLE SONGWRITER book series and most recently the BEHIND THE BOARDS: NASHVILLE book.  SO: the long answer to that question is, because I love telling the behind-the-scenes stories of both the hits and those who make them, be it songwriters or producers or drummers in the case of the BEYOND THE BEATS rock drummers series, or Hip Hop producers with the DOCTORS OF RHYTHM audiobook and upcoming physical version in 2021.  I’ve also been fortunate to write memoirs with some interesting characters like Kenny Aronoff, country rapper Big Smo and upcoming Freddy Powers The Spree of ’83 book which features Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.  So it's been an interesting run.

How long does it take you to write a book?

I work on several at once usually, that’s kind of my process, half day on one, a day on another, but for BEHIND THE BOARDS: NASHVILLE, I spent 4 straight months day in and out writing this book exclusively as it was over 600 pages.  I was reading the audiobook for Blackstone as I was writing it too, which was the first time I’ve ever done that.  Usually the audiobook is read after the book is completed.  Then it’s about a month of editing before its handed into the publisher.  So this was a real push, but it was worth it because of the feedback I’m getting first from the producers I worked quite extensively in many cases with on their individual chapters, and collectively in the book being a first of its kind for country music fans where they can read about how their favorite hits by country’s biggest stars were made while listening along on Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, etc.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Oh, I don’t know... I write every book thinking from the outset before I’ve even started putting words down to paper thinking about how that book will be marketed and promoted upon release.  There’s no point in writing something no one is going to read because when you get to the finish line you don’t have a gameplan on how to make readers aware of it.  Publishers, to be honest, can only do so much in that arena, every publisher’s publicist is usually like a social worker with 30 cases on their desk, so yours can only get so much attention.  So for instance, I always recommend to a writer to hire a great publicist and know that while that’s a considerable expense, it may be the best money you spend in getting the word out about your book because that publicist is working for YOU, not for 30 authors at once.  It's just a fact of the business that I think should get more light shed on it because you’re competing with that number I  mentioned above of 60,000+ books a YEAR coming out.  I also negotiate the right to press my own promo runs of 100 if needed because if not, you’ll wind up with a paltry 10 copies from the publisher, who for their own budgetary reasons, might not for instance be able to service all the physical review copies you’ll have to give away during the book’s promotion, whether to a disc jockey interviewing you on the air or the listener he or she is giving away a free copy to during that broadcast, as just one example.  If you don’t plan ahead for that, you’ll wind up paying that publisher $6 or $7 per promotional copy, which is something I’m SURE some of my own publishers would hate for me to pull the curtain back on, but its true.  Writers are paid LAST usually in the royalty chain, especially early on, but you move up in that order as you build a value into your name as a writer, which only comes with people hearing about you and your book.  So again, HIRE A PUBLICIST, HIRE A PUBLICIST, HIRE A PUBLICIST!  Your agent can be helpful too, but its typically up to you as an author to maintain your own social media presence and look for every available avenue to spread the word about your book so it has a chance to be read.  This is equally important for newer or more established writers, because there’s always a new generation of equally-as-talented new wordsmiths knocking on those publishers’ same doors... 

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

In a studio making music or writing books for the various publishers I work for, or recording audiobooks for Blackstone Audio, so it’s pretty time-consuming.  I did just sign a worldwide music publishing deal for my songwriting catalog with Streets Music and David Gresham Company.  So I’m lucky to stay busy, to be honest, you have to too make a living in the entertainment business.  I have a wife and a dog too, so I spend what time I have left with them. ☺ 

Your 50th book is coming out June 23rd, “Behind The Boards: Nashville”. Can you give us insight on what it will be about? 

First, I exhale deeply every time I get asked that because it's finally DONE!  I spent 2 years collecting extensive, first-hand – many for the first time in a book – interviews with 30 of country music’s biggest producers, and in some cases, that meant waiting for a break in their busy studio schedules to talk, in others it meant multiple conversations over a couple years as we wanted to make sure we had all their current hits as they kept banging them out, and in other cases, because of the sheer volume of their catalog – some of these guys have been in the business since the early 70s – it took that long to chronicle it all.  That’s just the interview process too, then I had to write it and I write everything in one shot vs. a chapter here and there.  Its to me like staying in character as an actor throughout an entire performance, and when you’re writing a book like this, you’re in a headspace that never lets you sleep because creative narrative is CONSTANTLY hitting you about specific hits, and there’s over 300 # 1s in this book.  Additionally, there’s an EXHAUSTIVE amount of research I do to source out certain critical quotes of praise, for instance, from way back in the 80s, 90s, early 00s, etc from magazines that aren’t even in print anymore, as well as supporting quotes from the actual superstars these producers work with in the studio, which also takes a great deal of time.  So after all of that prep, once you begin writing, there’s another 3-4 months before the manuscript comes to life as a finished product.

As a result of that, country music fans here are given arguably the MOST definitive to date book chronicling the stories behind the making of their favorite hits in the studio, again how those artists specifically and uniquely work at their craft – i.e. does George Strait sing each hit over 3 or 4 vocals or 25 or 30 takes, etc – as well as how specific # 1s within those individual catalogs of Greatest Hits were created in the studio.  Then from the other side of the boards, so to speak, you get the producer’s first-hand recollections of their own personal journeys from the time they could first crawl and walk and started discovering music to their teenage bands and first tape-recorder or 2-inch reel to reel or 4-track or laptop home recording sessions all the way up through their rise to become the biggest names in the business working in country music today.  

Collectively, BEHIND THE BOARDS: NASHVILLE features Dann Huff, James Stroud, Jim Ed Norman, Dave Cobb, Justin Neibank, Ross Copperman, Zach Crowell, Chris Destefano, Jesse Frasure, Norbert Putnam, Josh Osborne, Luke Laird, Clint Black, Frank Liddell, Shane McAnally, Jimmy Robbins, Josh Leo, Nathan Chapman, Paul Worley, Jeff Stevens, Jody Stevens, Bobby Braddock, Michael Knox, Don Cook, Frank Rogers, Joey Moi, Ray Baker, and Buddy Cannon, who did the Foreword, which was a TRUE honor.  Frankly, it was an honor to have every one of these legends speak to fans so candidly and openly about both their personal and professional lives in the music business.  Their stories are inspiring, ear-and-eye-opening, exciting, insightful, and hopefully educational for those kids growing up on their records now hoping to break into the same business.  So hopefully, there’s something for everyone who opens the book.

What were the methods you used to get ‘the’ interview with all the big names you’ve written about?

When you’ve been around this long, fortunately you can get in touch with just about anybody, whether they say yes or not to the interview is another story! (laughs)  But I’ve been pretty lucky, especially for instance with my NASHVILLE SONGWRITER book series, which has TWO volumes and 50 of the biggest songwriters in country music in the first two volumes, and a THIRD volume with another 30 legendary songwriters coming out at the end of 2021, and especially with BEHIND THE BOARDS: NASHVILLE, which has 30 of the most legendary record producers in country over the past 50 years, guys like Norbert Putnam, who ran Quad and produced Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville,” Jim Ed Norman, who produced Hank Williams Jr’s Born to Boogie album, Ray Baker, who produced that whole 70s Honkytonk soundtrack including Moe Bandy, Whitey Shafer, and Merle Haggard and Freddy Powers among others.  Then you have the Millennial generation’s biggest names like Joey Moi, Dave Cobb, Dann Huff, Jesse Frasure, Ross Copperman, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, Ray Riddle, and on and on.  

What do you think makes a good story?

Well, for this book, the most common thread woven throughout many of the chapters/live stories of these producers were the long-term working relationships they’ve  maintained with many of country music’s biggest stars throughout their entire careers or the majority, for instance, Jeff Stevens and Luke Bryan, Byron Gallimore and Tim McGraw, Buddy Cannon and Kenny Chesney, Michael Knox and Tony Brown, Frank Rogers and Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert and Frank Liddell, the list goes on and on as long as the Greatest Hits track listings do.  Equally as importantly for a book like this, is the fact it takes the reader quite literally inside the studio and pulls back the curtain on how their favorite country music stars record their biggest hits, and almost literally re-creates their recording from behind the boards by the producers interviewed.  Then on a totally separate front, from the academic side, its a 600-page book full of tips about how the recording process works from all sides, points of views, approaches, ages, and technologies, old and new, from analog to digital and the hybrid of both in the “in the box” generation of record making.  Hopefully, we’ve covered all sides of the process, that was the aim anyway so readers get a 3-D look, so to speak, at how the recording business really works.  

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

I sold my first book to my first publisher, Amber Books, in 2001 and Tony Rose gave me my start in the business and I wrote for them almost exclusively for the first 5 years and 10 books of my career from 2002 to 2007.  So having a stable and still exciting publisher willing to take chances on you and equally-as-importantly, the kinds of books you might approach them with, is KEY for any new writer because writers must remember EVERY time a publisher takes a chance on their book, they’re putting real money behind it before they ever see a dime back.  It's a big leap of faith, and carries with it alot of obligations for the author, where it doesn’t just end with handing the book in, but also helping promote it and building a brand for your name so it can become more and more reliable for both readers and new publishers, as any writer’s goal should be to eventually build a catalog where they write for as many publishers as possible throughout their career.  But be prepared to start out writing for one, or anyone for that matter, who you can verify has a good track record as a publisher, or if they’re new to the game, doesn’t just want to put out an e-book, which anyone can do without a publisher, and is willing to commit to a physical pressing, and promotion of that pressing.  I wouldn’t go looking for advances on your first or even necessarily second book out, but start asking for them as soon as possible as its an important piece of the income stream for any working author, as much as royalties are later on down the road.  An advance lets an author know a publisher first can afford to put money into their book, and values them, vs. Alot of these starter deals that promise big back-end but nothing up front.  You have to be able to afford to take that hit once or twice out of the gate, but its not a career model any writer should plan on if they want to make a living as a working author.  The other reason I mention all this is because being a working writer is not just about the creative side of the process, but the entrepreneurial one too, because you have to be a self-promoter, and not be shy to doing interviews or promotion on social media, etc, as you’re competing with a THOUSAND new titles a week minimum these days between all the digital e-books and print books out there. I think the statistic was to be something like 60,000 books published in 2018 alone, so that tells you the competition you’re up against to even get a book sold to a publisher, let alone compete on bookstore shelves for the reader dollar.

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

Of my own books, I wouldn’t say any are underappreciated, I’m grateful for the fact that people still read my books after 20 years and 2 or 3 generations of teenagers (which are a primary part of my reading audience) still buy my stuff.  I try to give them consistently interesting reading subjects, either in the personalities I co-write with – like country rapper SMO, whose memoir My Life in a Jar: The Book of Smo, was released in 2019, or the Freddy Powers Spree of ’83 memoir, which is presently in film development and that I co-wrote a screenplay for with Catherine Powers last year, that was also something different, and say something like legendary R&B producer/artist Teddy Riley’s forthcoming memoir Remember the Times, which we’ve been working on for the past 6 years off and on and is looking like it might be heading to Teddy’s fans’ hands in the next year.  One key thing I tell new writers when asked for input into starting a career in the current climate for our business is be prepared to commit as much time to a book as the artist needs, its similar to an album – if the publisher wants it on a deadline, be prepare to deliver, but getting an artist to open up in depth about their life takes time, both to build trust and to physically take the time to do the interviews not only with them in principle but also with the huge list of supporting cast members between peers in the band and business and family members and friends, record executives, peers, etc that usually wind up on those lists.  It's a process you should NEVER RUSH yourself, only move at the rhythm of the people you work with and for, and you’ll wind up working alot longer in the business than those who are in a hurry.  

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

Haha, I actually have a folder called “Projects That Probably Won’t Happen” and its filled with all kinds of “famous” bands/musicians books that just never got off the ground for one reason or another, but they’re all under contractual deals where I can’t talk about them in case they want to put a book out in the future, and I hope they all do.  Sometimes you encounter someone who is thinking about writing a book but is really 10 years before they’re ready to, or they aren’t really committed yet past the concept, so you do some sample chapter interviews but it never gets past that starting line.  I’ve thankfully left on good terms with the majority of those names, but with 50 published books in my catalog, most of what I have committed my time to has thankfully made it to store shelves.  That’s important for any new writer to remember, because with every new book project you take on, you’re committing a year to two years of their life to that process from the start of interviews through the completion, handing it into the publisher, editing, etc.  Anyone in a rush usually isn’t going to get anywhere is what I’ve found, it takes time, even if your mind is moving a million miles a minute, and your ambition even faster, pace yourself and you’ll last a lot longer in the race I’ve found anyway (cheesy sports metaphor aside ☺).  

Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

Haha, I’ve had some good and bad experiences there over the years.  I have NO problem with a consumer buying my book and then reviewing it one way or the other on say Amazon or Audible, etc, because that’s part of the business, but as far as book reviews from other writers, I just have to hope they like it and write fairly about it as it does matter impressionistically what readers then think of it as a potential product to buy and read themselves.  Sometimes, in walking the fine line I have to be between the technical and the creative in a series like this or Nashville Songwriter or say my In the Studio series, which has over 10 books in it alone, so you never know.  Its something I don’t pay alot of attention to as well because by the time a review comes out, the book has been out a couple months usually and we’re on the back-end of a promotional push, so if its a good review, it's a nice 4th quarter boost of coverage, and if it's not, then it's pretty buried vs. hurting the book’s launch on the front end.  I’m just being honest, sorry, but book reviews play a very MINIMAL role in most books’ launches if they’re properly promoted via author interviews, premier placements as we’ve done with American Songwriter, CMT, SoundsLikeNashville.com and others coming up, and for any newer writer, accept ahead of time that you’re GOING to get a bad review here or there, it's just part of the subjective review process, and doesn’t speak for your larger reading audience.  

Do you believe in writer’s block?

Not when you write for a living.  It's not a luxury I think any of the writers I know who work professionally writing books can afford, that’s why you have to follow the simple rule of A.B.W. (Always Be Writing) ☺.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Probably doing the same thing, writing is how I make a living, so it's will be with me until arthiritis set’s in, but I’ve got 2 screenplays in development and hope to have at had at least one of them produced into a film.  I’m not unrealistic to think that it will go to theatres, but I’d be happy to see a streaming service selection with my name on it as a screenwriter, there’s 3 or 4 of my books fortunately in that cycle right now so we’ll hope one or two of them make it that far.  Beyond that, I’m in the studio every week as I have been the past 20 years making music and will continue doing that, hopefully to a greater degree with these new publishing deals I’ve signed as I have over 200 released songs in my own catalog, none in Country lol, but I just try to keep putting out new creative product across multiple mediums at as prolific a pace as the muse allows without the quality of the end-product being compromised.  That’s the point at which I’d stop I guess, if the quality of the writing lessens to where people don’t want to read my stuff anymore.  Thankfully, I have built up a pretty loyal reading and retail-buying audience over the past 2 decades, and hope to keep putting out books that help music listeners understand how hard and still rewarding a business the record business is.  It's an amazing world to wake up working in every day, and I love helping musicians tell their stories on paper, so we’ll just have to see.  I hope to have hit 60 books by then, although my ultimate goal is another 50 over the next 10 years! (laughs)  Thanks again for your time and support of this latest project!    

#interview #iwbfinterviews #music #music biographer #writer #author #behind the boards #nashville #singers #songwriters #interviewing #music promotion #Promoter #behind the boards nashville #comic books #read #reader #reading #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks

[blackuigryphonvr]

#PokemonGo #Niantic #Wayfarer #Abuse #CyberBullying I’m currently suspending ALL of my nominations for PokéStops in South Field, and my local area due to a pattern of very bad abusive behaviors collectively done towards me from a group of local individuals whom I’ve actually never ever done anything, but are trashing me behind my back.

I DO NOT APPRECIATE players ganging up on my nominations and ABUSING Niantic’s system to accuse me of being a Nazi and committing a crime! How dare u! It’s like I’m having my own version of the Warren/Sanders back-stab!

WHO in their right mind would ACTUALLY BELIEVE that I’m a Nazi?! WHO would ACTUALLY believe that I would ABUSE Niantic’s system to harm others in my community?

This has been a constant pattern of behaviors of a number of things dating back to June, and this confirms a lot of things I was already catching onto, and suspecting. This also strongly confirms my #1 suspect, and I already suspect up to 9 other persons as well as alt accounts.

Do u have any idea how much research I put into this spot since 2018? I didn’t just pull this out of my ass. It’s not only historical but prehistoric. There is NOTHING DIFFERENT about THIS SUBMISSION than all of my others that went through.

But I’ve noticed that whenever I publicly divulge where and when I’m submitting nominations and mention it publicly on social media, or the local Discord thread, those locations get rejected for reasons that make no sense at all.... but, the ones that did make it through were ones I never told anyone I was doing.

Before Wayfarer even went live, I had reservations about sharing my intel, which I’d been gathering since 2018 hoping to turn into a PokéStop eventually... but, I decided it was better to let go of it, so that others could do it. I gladly, And freely gave out my details, added info to Google & Yelp and even went to long lengths of so much research to share which maps to check, which historical archives to use.

I noticed that much of the ones I openly shared with others often got stupid reasons for rejections. So, we had to come up with better methods to submit nominations with less room for potential rejections like having cultural n historical information or good photography exposures. But, when they didn’t tell others they resubmitted, it got accepted.

Also, I was very vocal about my plans and wishes for which locations I’d been scouting out the best locations for Community Days, especially Public Parks! As a Mom I care about a safe place to play, free parking, and safe access.

I recall feeding my intel to others, publicly, and being told by a head person (whom I trust) that my info was being shared with someone whom wanted to do those locations. Specifically, South Field And Stella Tirrell Park.

I wanted those spots to become high quality places to play Community Day, but I HAD A STRONG INKLING that these places could become a PokéGym since there was an older PokéStop there. I told people this. Yet, no one bothered. Months blew by, and nothing...

Well, I finally hit Level 40 at the end of 2019 so I hustled to get my submissions done. It took days for me to plan out which ones I wanted, and which ones would be more likely than others to go through. But my Stella Tirrell submissions were screwed. I thought it was very strange.... but I still had 1 that go frozen in the cue. That one didn’t even go into voting until last week. And because no one was actively trying to screw me, it went through and now Stella Tirrell has a PokéGym.

But, also, I turned the Jet into a PokéGym in South Field. I did the work. And it paid off.

But I never told anyone that I was doing those.

Well, someone assumed it was another player. So I asked who they thought did it.... and THAT was the person at the top of my list as a suspect. This person also is very well liked and many people believe this person to be a nice person.... I know this because I also fell for the “nice guy” act until their behavior shifted by June. This person was also the very first local player I ever met at a Raid, and used to say hi to me driving around at night in places I was playing the game. This person has been so overtly passive aggressive towards me, and also tries to play it off at other times like it’s fine. But the cold shoulder treatment is so overt when they show up to Raids. Acting nonchalant but also actually repulsed by me, or that I don’t exist. Or: sure! I’ll help you.... sorry, I have to leave. Over and over!

Well, after mentioning a number of things recently ( if u scroll through my posts) u can see what I had to say about my recent successes getting 2 new PokeGyms myself that were MAJOR. Stella Tirrell and South Field. Any of these local players could’ve submitted any of those nominations but never bothered to BECAUSE the intel came from me.

So, when that nomination FINALLY wet into the VOTING on Thursday Night, by the morning it was screwed.

When I checked the email and saw the reasons why, I WAS FLOORED!

This was NOT just some instance of a lazy person reviewing and just picking any reason. It says “the Niantic Community of Players” decided this.

Think about that.

Multiple people went looking to find ANYTHING matching the locations where they knew I wanted PokéStops and meticulously went through ALL of the rejection reasons and SPECIFICALLY picked to accuse me of committing a crime!

Not claiming my photos were bad.

No. They accused me of abusing Niantic’s system to commit a crime to harm people in my community.

Well, I let others know in my community, and on social media.

I find it to be very strange than within a few hours a different PokéStop nomination went through in South Field. It’s just so strange!

Dude! Just play fair!

Even if I didn’t like someone, Or didn’t approve of them, I WOULD NEVER EVER ABUSE NIANTIC’S system to hurt Another player, or try to destroy their credibility to submit a PokéStop nomination. I would NEVER stoop so low as to lower my self worth enough to be THAT MALICIOUS! I have self respect. And a person that has self respect is respectful to others, and treats others with dignity.

I also wouldn’t go out of my way to try and kick people out of the game, or stop them from ever playing the game again, or stop having access to the Discord server.

There’s definitely been some very bad things done to me that qualify as bullying. I don’t like it. But, I don’t want to kick them out of the game permanently, or have them banned from the Discord server. I’m not evil like u are. I also know that some of these people are kids. But, it’s pretty messed up when it’s adult men. U literally shame yourselves.

Just because I’m getting old, don’t have my own car, am jobless & live in poverty, and I can’t memorize every name of every single Pokémon ever, or can’t memorize every single PVP Combo or Raid Couter doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I’m not a male player, and I can’t change my gender because I’m a woman -an aging woman! I’m not young. I’m not sexy. And u hate me for some unknown reason. But u really need to check YOURSELF !

This was TOO FAR!

There was NOTHING wrong with my nomination. I looked up so much information about South Field Naval Airbase from multiple sources. I have read through so much archival data. I’m so much more informed about this area than anyone else. But anyone could do this if they just bothered to! Like, JUST READ! I’ve been working on this since 2018! It mattered to me. But also, other people were HAPPY and THANKFUL for the work I did. But I can’t write an encyclopedia as a nomination.

I did a Good thing.

Nobody likes BAD DEEDS nor those whom do them.

If u think that those of u whom all actively decided to attack me using Niantic’s system are people that u could trust, or whether they trust u, think again. They will ALWAYS remember that u all got together to attack my reputation, and it will always be in the back of their mind. Eventually, someone will always either screw u, or it will backfire in some way. Their is no honor among criminals, thieves, gangsters. If they can do it together with you against me, what makes u think at some point they might not do it to you the moment it suits them? Or, they will always assume u did these kinds of things.

Just don’t do it.

You know it’s wrong.

Just stop it, and move on.

You really need to think about what kind of person you really are, what your values are, and what kind of person you are vs what kind of person you SHOULD be.

If u have been putting up a front of who u want people to think u are, and I know you are, then u need to get to the root of why that is.

#niantic wayfarer #wayfarer #pokemon go #bullying #cyberbullying #abuse

[its-a-writer-thing]

How to Build an Author Website – Learning to Build a Site

In our last installment of “How to Build an Author Website,” we discussed finding the right hosting provider, the details of securing a domain name, and how to ensure you were getting a good deal that has everything you need!

This time, we’re down to the nitty gritty – learning how to build a site. As mentioned in the “Budget” article of this series, you do have the option of hiring a professional designer who can handle all of this for you. For that matter, they may be able to make the site far more complex and ‘beautiful’ than what you can manage personally. They’re professionals, after all; it’s their craft. They could probably write their own very nice stories, but if they wanted a bestseller, they’d come to you!

Nonetheless, they want a pretty penny for their expertise, and if you lack the budget or have confidence in your self-teaching abilities, you can certainly create a fantastic author site all by your lonesome. After all, that’s what Lena did, author of Behind Closed Doors: Trusting The Unseen and the dynamite gal providing us with some insider knowledge on building your own author site.  

Here, we’ll dive into learning to build our own author sites, from scratch, with no previous experience.

Custom Build or Pre-Built

Now ‘from scratch’ can absolutely mean from scratch. However, we don’t recommend starting with a blank page and a dream, as this would require more coding knowledge than any of us are really willing to gain (unless you want to dual as a web designer and a writer; then by all means!). That leaves you with two other options:

Custom Build

This involves taking one of the most basic templates you can be given via your hosting provider and completely redeveloping it.

Pro-Tip from Lena: “I would suggest any of the WYSIWYG websites (“what you see is what you get,” in the industry’s shorthand). A lot of hosting providers offer these types of websites nowadays, and they are very easy and straightforward to build and design with. You design these sites with blocks and image or text boxes, and it’s so much easier to both build and edit the site with these functions. Many providers also offer functions with easy drag and drop function that can add things like dividers, social media galleries, videos, widgets, plug-ins, etc.”

Divi on Wordpress, for example, is one such plug-in. Though it does charge a fee to use, it makes web designing more intuitive and less coding intensive.

This option will also allow you to create, nearly from scratch, your own ‘shop function’ – should you decide to sell your works off the site itself, as well as link to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and so on.

Pre-Built

This one is about using an existing template that has the look and features you like, and then redesigning it to be personalized to your tastes. This will be less thorough than the above option, but can still achieve the purpose you’re seeking. So, for example, the template you choose may have a social media plug-in, two set dividers, and then a few pre-set locations for photos.

In this, you’ll mainly aim to change the color scheme, add a banner or picture section higher or lower in the layout, and customize what other features it allows you to work on.

Advantages

Less investment. You don’t need to buy plug-ins such as Divi for more advanced reworking.

Faster to set up. With fewer customizations and less time necessary for learning how to customize, you can have your site up and running in two days or less.

Leaves room for later improvement. As time goes on, if you decide you’d like to upgrade to a more customized layout, you have all the opportunity in the world. For now, it does the job pretty well.

Disadvantages

You may end up looking similar to other sites, who also sought to lower costs and time.

May not be as custom-tuned as you’d like it. Since this site will be your digital ‘first impression’ on readers, you may be disappointed that it doesn’t emulate your aesthetic as well as you’d prefer, or that it doesn’t provide as many options as you’d like to treat your viewers with.

Online Classes vs. General Internet Research

If you choose the custom-build site, or decide on a more in-depth approach to designing your own website, you’ll need some extra know-how.

Of course we rely on the internet for a lot of our answers, including some things that could put us on a watch-list (hey, that information about C4 was really important for the one scene!). But then again, the internet can only offer so much for a single query. Would you be better off seeking online classes to show you the ropes? Let’s weigh the pros and cons.

General Internet Research - Advantages

Well, it’s free! If you’re willing to type in enough queries, follow enough links recommended in articles or videos you find, and can Google terms that fly over your head (with a willingness to follow those rabbit holes as well), you can absolutely become more fluent in designing a site without spending a dime.

You get more opinions, and that means more options. While an online class will perhaps give you a more thorough look in a shorter span of time, you are limited to the knowledge and opinions of that teacher. Maybe they have a bias to a certain hosting provider, or perhaps they dislike certain widgets. Google will give you all sorts of insights and opinions, which translates to a better-rounded look at the practice. You may even find someone willing to offer you uncommon but useful hacks! (Life-hacks, not regular hacks. Those are in bad taste.)

More control over your learning process. If you’re quick to pick up new concepts, then general internet research allows you to go where your knowledge level takes you. Skip ahead and become well versed in the terms, take advice on one plug-in and run with it before exploring the others, or get a feel for the entire process and then dive into practice! You get to choose your own pacing, so while some may need a several-week class, you could arguably do it in a week.

Disadvantages

Unreliable, to an extent. The internet being the internet, not everything you find will be entirely helpful or factual. As such, you’ll have to look up multiple sources and then compare notes by yourself to decide what is really helpful and what can be discarded.

Beginner’s guides aren’t always beginner friendly. Since you’ll be asking a broad question in an even broader room, you won’t get a customized answer every time. This means you’ll have to swift through a lot of information and try to figure out what’s beginner friendly and what’s way over your head! That leaves you with the task of then finding something beginner friendly.

Takes time. Sadly, since you’re looking to glean knowledge ‘needle in a haystack’ style, this will take a fair amount of time – and time that you can’t necessarily schedule in advance. You just have to start and see when it is you feel confident enough to put that knowledge into practice.

Online Classes -  Advantages

Concise. By entering a class, you’re avoiding all the fluff and white noise of the internet. You know exactly what you’ll be taught and how long you can expect it will take.

You have peers just like you, and a teacher to answer specific questions. While the internet leaves you to ask the void over and over again until you find someone who maybe answered a question similar to yours, a class gives you a closed group of people just like you, who may ask the questions you’re thinking. At the minimum, you likely have access to a teacher who can answer your questions - or at least guide you to an answer.

Trackable. Most classes offer a promise of what you’ll find at the end; you’ll be able to do ‘this’ amount of web design, or build a site like ‘this.’.

Disadvantages

Costly. While you can certainly find free classes, most of those which give you the advanced tools necessary to fully customize your site will cost money. It’s an investment, but it still hits the budget.

Limited. Sadly, you will be limited to what this exact class teaches, and that may leave gaps in your knowledge that must be filled with other classes or even internet research! You may also be restricted to that specific teacher’s opinion on web design, which, while valuable, could result in you missing out on a life-hack that may have worked perfectly for you.

Time consuming. While this seems counter-intuitive to the facts above, a class will be scheduled over several weeks. It’s unlikely to find a quality one which takes only days, and that means you’re committed to waiting for more information. The internet could let you speed along at your own (perhaps much faster) pace.

Resources

Whichever you choose, here are a few great places to start:

Website Builder Expert

Research-Backed Web Design Tips

The Site Wizard

Free Web Development Courses

All in All

That finishes up this article, so check out our next installment in this five-part series, where we discuss how large or small your author site should be according to industry standards, as well as explore whether or not a site negates your need for social media.

Thanks for reading, and happy writing!

#website building #author site #author website #self publish #writing advice #L S Andersson #Behind Closed Doors #Behind Closed Doors: Trusting The Unseen #iawt #building an author site #learning to web design #web design from scratch

[authorscottmckay]

The Novel Writing Process (Indie Publishing Route)

1.) Research the Market

Before you begin, figure out what genre you would like to write in. Horror? Fantasy? Mystery? Romance? Comedy? There are tons of genres, sub-genres, and mixed genres to choose from.

When you have a genre chosen, start reading. Reading is crucial to becoming a good writer. Read what’s hot in your genre right now, study the tropes people like and dislike, and what traits make characters interesting.

By no means am I saying be a copycat. Don’t just write a book about evil spirits rising from an old Native American burial ground because of Pet Semetary’s success and expect fans of horror to enjoy your series. Be original, but take away from your research the “feel” of the books you read. It’s not specifically about what happened in the book, but ask yourself why those events left you craving more and turning the page.

2.) Pre-writing

Depending on who you ask, pre-writing has a specific set of steps and clear paradigms for what is and is not part of this stage. And, as with many steps in the writing process, it is all up to interpretation. To me, pre-writing begins before you jot down a single word. It begins with a spark of inspiration, and is comprised of all the brainstorming, character creation, plot notes, and every other idea you have for your book before you really get down to starting on chapter 1 (or wherever you do begin writing your book; personally, I prefer the ending or somewhere in the middle).

3.) Outlining

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to writing: those who fly by the seat of their pants — aptly nicknamed “Pantsers” — and those who sit down and plot out the entire book in shorthand before they begin — the “Plotters”. I myself am an avid fan of plotting, because I find it greatly decreases the instances of writer’s block, but feel free to skip this step if you’d rather just wing it.

When plotting, simply take the ideas you came up with in the pre-writing stage and organize them from A-Z in your story. This could be a series of bullet points, a death-by-PowerPoint storyboard, or you can shorthand your entire story, then flesh out the details when you go back over it. There are also specific flows to the plot to consider. Find an organizational method that works for you, and ask yourself these questions: Who is the protagonist? Who, or what, is the antagonist? Why does the protagonist want to stop them? What allies do they meet, and what challenges do they face along the way?

For an awesome reference guide, research a concept known as “The Hero’s Journey”.

4.) The First Draft

Now the fun part. Write. Just write. Don’t stop to edit, even if you have a mess of misspellings, punctuation errors, and sentences that come across like a drunk toddler hijacked your keyboard/pen. Just get the words onto the page. Pour your bleeding heart and soul out, have a blast doing it, and understand one simple thing:

The first draft sucks.

The first draft is a heaping pile of manure that should never see the light of day. The first draft would crack mirrors if they had eyes to see it. If you dare to try to publish a first draft, as I have seen impatient indie authors online do, you will invoke my wrath, and I will find you, and I will beat you with a frozen swordfish.

Once you have finished pumping a wordgasm into your Google Docs, Word, Scrivener, or whatever writing program file, sit back, relax, finish your coffee/tea/booze, and cry.

Because now comes the part every writer just loves… So. @&$%ing. Much.

5.) The Self-Edit

“Psh, wait, what? I don’t need to edit my novel. The publishing house will do that for me, or I’ll just hire someone to do it.”

You hear that?

That’s the sound of my swordfish, fresh out of the big ass freezer I purchased just to contain it. And it’s ready for a beat down.

If you were to send a first draft to a publisher, you would be laughed at and rejected immediately. If you’re going the indie route, and an editor you hire needs to spend an enormous amount of time rifling through endless errors, you’ll be digging yourself a massive hole of debt trying to pay them for all that extra work.

Trust me: edit the book to the best of your abilities, and your wallet or publisher will thank you for it later. I would also recommend getting the help of friends and family, if available. These people, reading over your book in the first draft stage (and you better buy them a coffee or something), are what are known as “alpha readers”. We’ll go into depth on the types of readers who help in the editing phase in another post.

There are multiple types of edits to do:

Developmental edit

Read over your story and take note of what makes sense or not, what weak areas could be strengthened, and weed out any continuity errors you find. Just focus on the plot and big scenes. Best to get help with this one in the form of beta readers (see next step).

Copy edit

Go word-by-word checking for typos and spelling errors along with correcting grammar, language, and syntax errors. Also, at this point, deal with any punctuation issues you see. 

Line edit

Focus on the finer aspects of language. Read over each sentence to asses their flow and whether or not they get the idea across. Try to tighten them up and avoid run-on sentences.

Sensitivity edit

A sensitivity edit it highly recommended when writing about other cultures, minorities, LGBTQ+ characters, and social issues you may not be familiar with. You don’t want readers getting pissed and blasting you for being homophobic, misogynistic, racist, and/or ignorant. This may be difficult to do on your own, so I recommend a fresh set of eyes from a friend or family member to help you, particularly if they happen to be a part of the group you are writing about.

 Proofread

This is the final edit. Read through your manuscript one last time to check for any spelling mistakes, grammatical issues, continuity errors, or other glaring problems.

6.) Get Beta Readers

A beta reader is someone who reads your manuscript and gives feedback before it is ready to be published. What defines a beta reader vs. an alpha reader is actually kind of blurry. Personally, I believe beta readers should come after you have done some thorough self-edits. When you get feedback from your betas, apply it to your book, and continue with another round of self-edits.

Whatever you do, get the beta reader feedback BEFORE the professional edit. Obviously, you don’t want to add the feedback into your book after the edits, then have to pay someone to re-edit those parts of the book.

7.) Get a Critique Partner

Got any writer friends? Good. Ask them if they would help you in the self-edit process by reading through your book and giving feedback as a fellow writer, not as a reader. Think of a critique partner as a beta reader who is reading from the author’s perspective. They can have a world of information and writing tips you hadn’t even considered during the first draft.

8.) The Professional Edit

“B-but I already did my own edits!”

Yes! Good job! Here’s a cookie. Chew on it while you send your book off to people who are vastly more experienced than you.

There’s no skipping this step, even if you’re on a tight budget. Your book needs a professional edit in the form of all the edits you just did. Without it, readers will be able to tell it’s an unfinished book, and you’ll come across as an amateur.

I’m not going to lie, if you’re going the indie publishing route, it’s expensive. Get good at saving money from your day job. Some editors charge per hour, some per page, and some per word. A common fee is $0.01 - 0.03 per word. Doesn’t sound intimidating at first glance, but if you’ve just finished 50k words for NaNoWriMo, or you’ve got the next great 120k word urban fantasy that’ll blow the Mortal Instruments out of the water…well, you do the math.

Just, please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t hire some shady “super experienced” all-purpose editor off of Fiverr because you want to save a buck, then wind up getting half-assed work back and need to find a real editor to fix it. Cough… Not that I’d know anyone who did that. <_<

9.) The Book Cover

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is a phrase only to be applied as a metaphor to say “don’t judge people based on their appearance.”

In the book world, we DEFINITELY judge books by their covers.

If you do absolutely no other form of advertising, make sure you have a damn good book cover. The cover is going to count for about 80% of your advertising. You might have a book that’s going to change peoples’ lives and make you a household name along with a buttload of money. But if the cover sucks, no one is going to buy it except for a few family members and friends.

Make sure you research what book cover styles are popular in your genre so it stands out to readers as something they might enjoy. For example: most urban fantasy YA novels feature a model of the main character in the middle, and they might be holding some sort of weapon; the background is neat, perhaps a city scape or a mystical forest; the font of the title and name are custom-made and might have a swirling, curved, or twisted shape to them.

10.) Formatting

This is often a package deal with book cover designers. Get your book formatted for readability on whatever platform you’ll be publishing it to.

11.) Get an ISBN

Submit your book for an ISBN. Easy peasy. Now, if you’re just going to publish on Amazon, they do have their own free ISBN, but if you want to publish to other sources like Kobo and iBooks, you’ll need to get your own.

12.) Publication

This is it. The moment you’ve been waiting for. Once you’ve got your book all together in an awesome package, find which platform you want to publish your book to — Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Blurb, Lulu, Smashwords, etc... — and follow their guidelines for setting up an account, giving them your tax info, and uploading your files.

Congratulations! You’ve just published a book. Is it your first one? Then revel in the fact that you are now officially an author. Go out and celebrate with a steak night and a beer (or whatever is appealing according to your diet), then get back to work.

13.) Extras

Not mentioned in this process are things like building your author platform, marketing, advertising, getting deals with bookstores and libraries, and setting up book tours. These don’t have a set place in the writing process. When it comes to marketing and building your author platform, those are things you need to do even before you begin writing your book, all throughout the process, and long after it’s all finished. Things like planning when to officially launch your book, and whether or not pre-orders will be available, are important considerations as well.

Every writer has their own process. This has been my personal experience with the indie writing and publishing process. Comment down below if there is anything you would add to help aspiring, brand new, and veteran authors achieve their writing goals. Thanks for reading!

#writer #writing #advice #bibliophile #process #tips #writeblr #publishing #selfpublishing #indie #indiepublishing #amazon #kindle #kobo #ibooks #ebooks #smashwords #lulu #books #reading

[sonofhistory]

Ron Chernow: Tales of False Information, Hypocrisy and Sucking Up.

I’m not doing this in a pretty essay because I wanted to get the taint of his name from my keyboard quick enough. Often enough, I exclaim my opinion of Ron Chernow. What comes afterwards is a bucket of asks questioning my reasoning, to which I have explained on numerous occasions. Today, once and for all, I will answer it in a clear formate so that I may 1) Stop being asked of Chernow and 2) Give you all the information to choose properly when reading up on your history! Let’s begin. 

This is Ron Chernow:

Ah, yes. The man himself. Historian, best-selling writer, journalist... you name it. Kinda looks like your uncle who gets you a child’s Christmas present even though you are seventeen years old.  If you are interested in history, or follow it to some extent you most certainly have heard his name in the past. Whether it be in a book store, online, or for your especially crafty people--this blog ;) You are bound to be able to recognize his name. He has published titles such as Titan, The Death of the Banker, Grant & Washington to name a few with the most popularity or catch among readers and stats. However, if it is one biography of which stands out the most against anything it is: Alexander Hamilton. You know that big yellow book?

I can assure you, that while this book looks to big and bright as to blot out the sun: it is nothing but a walk in the park. The biography delves heavily into the life of the first Secretary Treasury of the United States in a manner which has never been performed to such an impressive extent for the historical figure before. From the poor island to by Washington’s side and then the forest of Wekawken to his last breath beside Eliza, just as David McCullough did with John Adams, Ron Chernow masterfully articulates all of the information in a conscious and extraordinary manner. So, perhaps you ask: why, Presley, do you hold an utter disdain for Ron Chernow if you think it was good?? Well to answer your question:

Because he does too much sucking up. 

Sucking up. 

But what do I mean by that? I mean rather poignantly that if Ron Chernow could, he would get down on his knees and please Hamilton in any which manner that he wishes. He sucks up. Alexander Hamilton is solely one example of this manner of creating a larger and life picture of the man. I have stated all this before, in my review on this book, but today I am going to tackle a few reasons why you shouldn’t rush out to read from Chernow on this interesting figure. From not allowing Hamilton to take account for his wrong deeds, to blaming the people in his life to blatant lies among the text. Ron Chernow, is, in my honest and collective opinion, a lying and untruthful historian. 

First and foremost: bias. You’ve heard this word before often coming from me on this blog regarding historians. In my context, it means an author who does not take both prospectives in an argument and is always inclined to one specific side. Perfect examples of how historians have been masterful in avoiding bias is Jon Meacham in Thomas Jefferson and John Ferling in Jefferson vs Hamilton. Those authors were able to perfectly walk the line between giving their figure’s opinions and being able to tear their views to shreds. Ron Chernow does not walk the line. Actually he pretty much fell the thousand feet away from the line to his doom in hell. Strong wording? You bet. Chernow is EXTREMELY BIAS. By bias in Chernow context, I mean that he does not understand how to incorporate differing opinions into his passages or know how to interpret Hamilton in what manner he was: a brilliant but extremely flawed man with a multitude of moral issues who constructed the country from scratch with the rest of them. Instead, Chernow chooses to view Hamilton is a divergent light. 

So what does this do for his character? Hamilton’s. It amplifies it. Chernow spends the entire biography attempting to convince how holy, forgotten and sacred Hamilton is that he entirely disregards that Hamilton is already interesting by himself! We don’t need useful false information or bias information. For example, Chernow portrays Hamilton in a light of “do no wrong” and that is was everyone around him of which had issue. For a few examples:

Thomas Jefferson started all of the arguments between them and he was evil. Not like Hamilton did anything to be either...

Maria Reynolds is a stupid whore and she seduced poor Hamilton into banging her. 

James Monroe just stopped being friends with him and backstabbed him. Lmao. Right. 

It is Eliza’s fault that Hamilton cheated on her because she was pregnant all of the time. 

It was Eliza’s fault being Hamilton needs to protect his fragile masculinity and bang other women. 

It is Eliza’s fault. 

IT IS ELIZA’S FAULT FOR EVERYTHING. 

This brings me onto another point about characterization. So, in the wake of him having to amplify Hamilton to his extraordinary human bring who cannot do any wrong, he had to, at the same time, ruin the characters and personalities of the people around Hamilton. He spends the entire book trying to say that it was Eliza who was the hero but then completely goes against his claim just to bring attention and say that Eliza was responsible for the largest blot on Hamilton’s character. He trashes James Monroe by putting him the light of a Hamilton or Jefferson wannabe. He characterizes Jefferson the wrong way and takes numerous amounts of time just to dig at his character in the text like a middle schooler talking shit about someone. The thing is? Jefferson sucks! Yeah! We all know that: Jefferson is a piece of shit. However, Chernow doesn’t diss Jefferson in a way that is so bring to light how disgusting he was, he does it just to prove how much “cooler” Jefferson was to him and in turn ignores all of his subject’s flaws. James Madison is portrayed pathetically as well. Thought I’d mention... I believe the most horrifying thing, however, is his incorrect take on Maria Reynolds. That she was a stupid whore and Hamilton couldn’t resist her beautiful, sexy and entrancing sex sex sex. 

Alright. I spoke enough about character. Now allow us to tackle a fundamental reason why Chernow drops the ball in all of his biographies. The sacred ball. The sacred, holy ball that all historians must follow. 

CITE YOUR GOD DAMN SOURCES. 

Chernow puts information in there that you cannot find anywhere else. I mean... anywhere. But... what do I mean? I mean it is no where. No sources, no archives: nothing. A lot of his information is completely and utterly false! He places it in there just to serve his own agenda! It is completely crazy. Here are a few examples I noticed (there are many):

He states that Hamilton never owned any slaves and places him in the light of an extreme abolitionist. WHICH IS COMPLETELY FALSE. Chernow shows him as a fervent abolitionist and only mentions on one page in one sentence the  possiblity that Alexander Hamilton owned slaves. Alexander Hamilton owned one or two house slaves, he married into one of the richest slave owning family, he bought slaves for his family member and Chernow tries to say this was all against his will–seriously? Newsflash, Alexander Hamilton was NOT an abolitionist.

Stated that Hercules Mulligan was in the New York Manumission Society yet he is not in any records and was owning slaves all throughout his life. 

The story about Martha Washington’s tomcat is also untrue and the Boston Globe stated the emailed Chernow multiple times to no answer. 

Let us also not forgot to mention the incorrect labeling on the William S. Hamilton picture. 

As you can see: Chernow puts in facts and flowery information in order to pump up his nice thesis. He spends so long trying to do exactly what David McCullough did masterfully: bring a figure up from the depths and turn him in one fellow swoop into an icon. Sure, Chernow has gotten that done. He has a musical, which is pretty amazing, and everything. But masterfully? Debatable. 

At the end of the day, Alexander Hamilton is just one example of Chernow’s dirty deed. He did the same thing in Washington btw which is why I don’t recommend it. I must giver Chernow props however: his writing style is complex but fascination, interesting and he does immense research for his writing. Kudos on that. 

If you are looking for entertaining book with many facts and nearly a thousand pages of information on one person: you will go to the right now. I am not asking you to not read Chernow because in the end, he actually is quite good. What I am saying is that when you are going to read Chernow: you will need to take everything he says with a big pinch of salt. Because you may never know what is fact, what is reality and when he is crossing between being a historian and being a fan boy. 

Take Chernow with a pinch of salt. A big pinch of salt. A whole thing of salt. A bucket of salt. A damn house of salt. As you are reading, you are going to have to question everything that he is writing about and you’ll never know fiction and fanboying between truth and reality. Want to relax instead? Come to me and I’ll recommend you anything better than him. 

#got long #but here you go #ah finally maybe now I can #be done with him #ron chernow #Alexander hamilton #us history #history #pressles musing #american history

[scripttorture]

Effective investigation: strategies that actually work

In modern popular culture torture is consistently linked to interrogation: to getting information from a prisoner.

 Now I’ve written several times why this trope is not only wrong but also harmful and is used in the real world to justify torture. O’Mara and Rejali also cover this in depth over several hundred pages for anyone who wants more information.

 I often get asked for realistic alternatives: what does actually work? How can characters, bad or good, actually go about gaining information in a realistic way?

 This isn’t going to be an exhaustive list, and I feel I should state that I have no practical experience of interrogation. Hopefully though it can serve as a starting point that will help you think about how characters come by information in your stories.

 The first important point is that interrogation generally isn’t very effective.

 Very little useful information comes from interrogation of suspects when compared to all the other sources of information police and intelligence agencies draw on.

 There are a several reasons interrogation isn’t hugely useful including:

·         Human memory isn’t that good. Even well meaning people who want to help forget important details.

·         People are much better at lying than detecting lies. Even people who describe themselves as good at detecting when someone is lying do a very poor job.

·         Memories are easily modified in stressful situations. Even someone who isn’t trying to can plant suggestions leading to false memories, directing the interrogation in a particular direction without even realising it.

 Some useful information does come from interrogation (and I’ll come back to how to handle it in a moment) but, realistically the following are more important sources of information in any investigation:

 Physical forensic evidence

 This doesn’t just mean things like hair samples and DNA. Computer records, credit card bills, surveillance camera footage, library records and letters can tell you an awful lot about a person. Reading a character’s emails or letters and keeping track of their bills can reveal a lot of plot relevant information such as whether two characters are in contact or why a character might be desperate for money.

 Gathering this sort of information takes a lot of time and hard work. It’s not as simple as collecting evidence, such as a piece of hair or a computer hard drive, the information has to be analysed and interpreted correctly.

 The hair could be DNA tested and cross referenced with a database or simply identified as human and of a particular type and colour. (Identifying it as human is important, I know at least one forensic tech who was handed cow hair and told it was definitely from a suspect)

 The computer hard drive would need to be poured over file by file. It’s not quite enough to suppose character A could access character B’s emails, A has to have the time and inclination to read the damn things.

 An important point to consider is how dedicated your characters are. Careful collection and examination of evidence is probably the best way of finding something out. But it requires patience, hard work and a lot of time.

 There’s a reason police work is a full time job and there’s a reason a lot of people in professions like policing might think torture is easier. Gathering and analysing evidence is hard.

 It’s worth considering whether your character has the resources and inclination to go down this route before you decide to use it.

 Observation

 This is the stake-out scene from every police movie and tv show. It’s having one character physically following and watching another character for as long as humanly possible, recording everywhere they go and everything they do.

 It means finding out where a character lives, watching them at work, noting where they eat lunch and who with. Finding out where they go in their free time and how often. When they go to bed. Who they visit. How long they do it for. The minute detail of everything someone does in their day recorded for a period of weeks or months to build up a picture of the person.

 If that sounds creepy that’s because it is.

 This is a very time consuming strategy. It requires a lot of focus and patience and dedication or the ability to hire someone who has those qualities. It’s simpler than systematically gathering physical evidence and it’s easier to do discretely.

 Informants

 This is probably the simplest major method of gathering information. It can be as complicated as the Soviet Union network of paid informants or as straight-forward as people coming forward and volunteering information.

 This is incredibly important to police investigations. Information from voluntary informants led to the capture of the London tube bombers in 2005. The suspects were identified by their family and neighbours who went to the police.

 This sort of informal reporting doesn’t just occur in police contexts. From a writing perspective the way I tend to think about it is in terms of crossing societal lines.

 Every culture and subculture has ideas about what is and what is not acceptable. Every group has an idea of what’s ‘going too far’.

 You might be writing a story set around a violent, criminal subculture where theft and murder of other adults are the norm. But the same characters who wouldn’t dream of reporting an enemy for killing another adult might feel differently about the murder of a child.

 A religious character might excuse their priest’s affairs, but report anything they’d see as desecration or blasphemy.

 A scientist might ignore a colleague harassing their lab assistants but report data fraud.

 Think about what matters to the characters and you’ll be able to tell when they’d freely volunteer information.

 If you can’t think of anything emotional that would cause them to inform remember that your characters could pay informants. And then consider how many people who really need some cash might be in a position to watch or steal from other characters.

 Cleaners, drivers, people who deliver supplies- anyone who would be on a low wage, have regular contact with the character but only a superficial relationship could be a very valuable informant.

 Interrogation

 At the time of writing there is really not enough systematic research on effective interrogation. As a result I’m going to try and concentrate on things we’re reasonably sure help rather than getting bogged down in academic discussions about what might be useful. Those discussions are interesting but not much help to writers.

 1)      The first important point is that interrogation takes time.

 If a character is volunteering information that probably won’t take as long but somewhere in the region of 3-6 hours would still be reasonable. A witness to a crime or victim would probably need time and reassurance in order to tell the authorities what they know to the best of their ability.

 Someone who isn’t really willing to talk (for whatever reason) will need much longer. A day is actually unusually short. Weeks or even up to a month is not unreasonable. Timeframes are going to vary depending on the characters and the situation the plot has put them in but I think it’s important to remember that interrogation isn’t quick and it isn’t simple.

 2)      Interrogators and characters being interrogated should speak a common language.

 It sounds simple and obvious but if the characters can’t communicate effectively interrogation is almost certainly going to fail.

 Using translators does not seem to be as effective as using people who speak the language but there haven’t been systematic studies of speakers vs interpreters as far as I know.

 3)      Good record keeping is essential for effective interrogation.

 That’s straightforward in a modern setting with recording equipment but less so in a historical one.

 Having a record of everything the suspect character says when interviewed means that everything they say can be analysed by multiple people, can be cross checked against what they said previously and can be stored in a legible format in case it’s needed later.

 Checking what a suspect character said today against what they said yesterday or even last week helps investigators to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Lies are difficult to keep consistent, especially over longer periods of time. Inconsistencies can be helpful and consistencies can help highlight areas investigators should look into in greater depth.

 Having multiple people able to analyse information also helps hugely, each individual brings their own specialist knowledge to the investigation. Which can be as simple as recognising a local’s nickname (and so correctly identifying them later) or as complex as analysing how a suspect claims they made a bomb and recognising that that process wouldn’t work.

 4)      Even someone who genuinely wants to help will forget details and get things wrong.

 That isn’t unusual and it certainly isn’t a sign that the character is unwilling or being deliberately unhelpful. In fact a story that sounds too detailed and too precise might well be a sign of a pre-scripted and pre-rehearsed lie.

 5)      Very very few people refuse to talk.

 Whether they talk about anything helpful is of course another matter but the stereotype of a tough criminal sitting completely silently and staring down a cop is incredibly rare in reality.

 A smart interrogator will try to get their suspect chatting in the hope that some useful information will come out.

 Let’s say one of our characters is suspected of being part of a larger conspiracy of some kind. And he won’t chat about any of the ‘interesting’ material the cops have found in his house, but he’s happy to talk to the interrogator about the local football team.

 The interrogator might notice that he seems to go to watch the local team regularly and that he goes with the same set of friends. Friends who might not be part of this conspiracy but might have heard something useful from the suspect.

 A smart suspect will try to keep up a conversation peppered with misleading hints and misinformation.

 6)      Have the interrogating character establish a friendly rapport with their interviewee.

It is easier to talk to someone who comes across as friendly, interested in what you have to say and broadly sympathetic to your position.

 It is much more difficult to talk to someone who shouts, screams and acts in an aggressive and confrontational manner.

 The interrogator’s job is primarily to make it easy for the suspect to talk. Everything else follows from that.

 A polite, engaging, sociable character who can keep calm under pressure would be a good pick. Someone who can be ‘friends’ with anybody.

 Let me stress that this can be extremely difficult. We’re talking about a character who can walk into a room with the worst possible criminals and try to make friends with them; a character who is successful at doing so. Don’t be afraid to show the kind of toll that takes on the character.

 7)      Don’t let suspects talk to each other before hand.

 I’ve discussed elsewhere why solitary confinement is harmful- keeping characters completely isolated might well impair their memory of events.

 But allowing characters to talk to each other before their interrogated also affects memory both for characters who want to mislead interrogators and for characters who want to help.

 Essentially we edit our memories all the time. Discussion of shared experiences with other people is a major trigger for natural alternation of memories.

 Four witnesses of the same events who don’t talk to each other in advance will give four different but broadly similar accounts.

 If the same witnesses talk to each other before they’re interviewed they might well all report the same inaccuracies.

 8)      Have interviewed characters tell their story backwards.

 This is a pretty simple memory aid that makes it easier for interrogators to spot inconsistencies in a story. These inconsistencies don’t necessarily indicate a lie but they highlight areas a character might be unsure of or might have inaccurate memories of.

 For instance if a character witnessed a car crash they might be instructed to start their account from the moment the ambulances arrived at the scene and work backwards from there until they reach the moments just before the crash.

 This technique can also help remind characters of additional details as they tell the story.

 9)      There is no reliable way to tell if someone is lying by looking at them.

 Even people who judge themselves as ‘good’ at detecting lies perform poorly in tests.

 There are no reliable ‘tests’ for lying. There are no working lie detector tests and based on how complex an action lying is short of literally reading minds I don’t think it would be possible.

 The only reliable way to tell if someone lied is to double check everything they said.

 10)  Body language is not a reliable indicator of a character’s guilt or innocence.

 A lot of people still believe that it is and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with your characters believing that- but I’d advise caution.

 An interrogator character might recognise that a suspect character is nervous, but to instantly ‘know’ why they’d need to be psychic.

  The vast majority of people who conduct interrogations in real life have little to no formal training. In the USA (2013) the average was between 8-15 hours of the full training program. Consider how many hours you’d spend on a year long full time education course and you’ll get an idea of how little training that is.

 We are what fills in the gap.

 People with almost no training look to our portrayals of tough, aggressive interrogators who ‘always’ get results and, consciously or not, those portrayals influence them.

 The truth is interrogation isn’t a great way of getting information and interrogators are only human: they don’t have a supernatural insight into the suspect or crime.

 But we tend to write them as if they do. Personally I think that’s part of the problem- We focus on interrogation because of its dramatic potential. That focus warps how both the public and people involved in investigations view interrogation. It places too much focus on a comparatively poor information gathering technique and leads to assumptions that interrogators are capable of more than they realistically are.

 Trust, human interaction and treating other people as human is important. Anything that undermines that undermines interrogation.

Edit: Since I’m seeing some response in the comments from people who don’t quite see how bad portrayals of torture in fiction can affect real life, I’m linking back to this older Masterpost-  Accurate Portrayals of Torture in Fiction are Important

Disclaimer

[Sources: Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation. Harvard University Press, S O’Mara

Torture and Democracy, Princeton, D Rejali

The work of E Alison and L Alison, discussed in this newspaper article and listed here on their University home page papers are behind a pay wall (one specific to interviewing terrorists can be found here).

New Scientist 2015, article on evidence based policing]

#tw torture #tw police brutality #interrogation #effective interrogation #effective inevstigation #Masterpost

[brianjpatterson]

SPOTLIGHT: (”BEING” Part One) Cultivate Your Awareness

If you’re just joining Spotlight, then this is my personal journal of my personal journey as a performer. It’s a kind of way for me to look back on all of my experiences, and lessons I’ve learned, while simultaneously sharing what I’ve learned with you. Disclaimer: The word PERSONAL was utilized twice in the first sentence. Therefore, this is not the gospel or the truth, it’s just me sharing MY experiences in an effort to assist, if possible, in other people’s discovery (end disclaimer). Today, I’m going to skip over the last part (Part 5) of my observation of the Industry’s Corporate Structure, to briefly touch on the ‘BEING’ in “Brian’s B’s” (Being, Behavior, and Business), of my A+B=C method. If you are reading this blog for the first time, here’s a brief over view of my A+B=C method. A stands for the Abstract; It’s your dream and what you desire. C is the Completion or end result to the equation. It’s what you have Concocted. However, B is the thing that doesn’t get much attention, and it is the most vital portion of the equation; It is your Being, your Behavior, and your Business. All the things that YOU actually DO to mix with the A and make the C happen! That is the basic overview of my system. Today, I’m going to focus on Being and I’m going to use a completely true story from November of 2017.

Back in November of 2017, I was living in San Francisco, and had been making my living as a performer in the city for almost then years. It was on November 13, 2017 at approximately 4:10pm that I received a Facebook message on my Fan Page. It was from an actor in the city who I had met once, but from whom I had never seen any work. Her message said this…

“Hi Brian, I've asked you a question before, and you were so generous in your response.  If you have time to answer this one, I would so appreciate it. I'm joining SAG, and have been told that Fi-Core would be better.  Although the folks at the SAG office disagree.  Do you have a personal experience with that?  A casting director I trust suggests Fi-Core, and SAG strongly suggests SAG, not Fi-Core.  I know it's probably a very personal choice, but I follow you and it seems to me like you make good choices about your career.  Do you have a recommendation?  Thank you Brian.”

After reading her message, I couldn’t have been more flattered. I had been on the receiving end of quite a few messages like this at the time, and it made me feel good that I could potentially contribute to people’s success and happiness. In this case, the actor was making a huge decision that could have multiple effects. Every actor’s journey is different and need to make decisions specifically catered toward their career. Unfortunately, I didn’t know very much about her career so I couldn’t make any quick suggestions. So I did what every good objective person does: RESEARCH! First, I looked at her Facebook. I didn’t see ANYTHING acting or performance related at all. Then I looked at youtube; I didn’t see any videos or reels. After that I looked her up on IMDb and the only thing listed were a few credits; a few from over twenty five years ago, and then two which spanned over the last three years. Keep in mind all of these were either stand-in, extra work, or a role with no character name. After that, I completed multiple google searches using different variations of her name, the city, and additional words like theatre, film, actor and actress. Guess what? Nothing. Not only was there little to no marketing on this person, but there was nothing attesting to her competence. In addition, she was asking me a question about her business. Rather than making assumptions, I wanted to gather as much information as possible on this person so that I could give her the best advice I could. Besides, there could be an entire theatrical life of which I’m not privy and about which I don’t know. So, I sent back a bunch of questions to get a bigger picture of here situation. Here is what I sent to her:

“First off, I want to acknowledge your commitment to your career and your interest in doing what is best by seeking out advice from what seem to be good sources for you. You're already on the right path as far as I'm concerned. Second, I would agree with you; It's a very personal choice and would require a lot of detailed information. For instance: Do you plan on staying in SF for a while or are you moving to a larger market like NYC, LA, Canada, or London? If so, do you feel like you're in a place where you have enough experience and credits to hold your own and play with the 'big dogs' (SAG) on equal footing? If so, on what kind of tangible data is this based? Third and last, have you created a clear, detailed, and meticulous plan for your career with a somewhat in depth understanding of the road ahead of you? I am someone who prefers to give advice and make decisions by having more global/big picture info filled with as much data as possible. Therefore, if you can answer those few questions, then I think I can give you advice which is best suited for your particular situation. Brian :) “

Here is the answer with which I was met:

“Thank you, Brian.  I know those answers for myself and think I will be joining SAG, not as Fi-Cor.  I'll be based in California, splitting time between sf and la.  My main quandary is that a casting director who I trust up in sf recommends fi- Cor over SAG, yet SAG gives the opposite recommendation.  I am joining, that's not in question.  Leaning towards sag.  I've had 13 years experience in live theater, commercial and film/tv.  No reason to wait any more.  I know why I'm an actor.  More now than ever before. Thank you again.”

A few minutes later, I got this:

“I’d really like to hear your take on Fi-Cor vs. SAG.  What I'm most concerned about us if I start as Fi-Cor, will I them be able to switch?  The SAG office makes it sound like a very iffy prospect.  I don't know anyone who's tried it.  Think I will just join SAG and if I want to switch later, try it then.”

Her prior messages let me know that she wasn’t coachable, and didn’t really want to hear what I had to say. Regardless of my success or the contribution that I believed I could make to her after having seen some of her tools. So, I ended the conversation as gracefully as I could and sent her this message:

“It sounds to me like you've made up your mind to join. Mucha Buena Suerte!”

As you can see, I didn’t offer any advice or suggestions. It would have been a waste of time and energy. This person was merely asking for permission. Something I also didn’t give, because I could already tell after looking over her tools that I would be COMPLETELY AGAINST joining SAG. As in my previous posts, being an actor is the equivalent of being an employee in the corporate world. The only difference is that you are an independent contractor. In order to be a successful independent contractor that can support his/her self, you have to have mastered many skills and tools in order to stay employed. Some of those would be: interpersonal relations/communications, clear and concise planning and organizing, marketing strategy, and a harnessing of personal talent. Prior to developing these skills, there is one thing that every person will need in order to develop any of those and that is AWARENESS of self.  

Actor and famous acting coach Stella Adler was adamant about her belief that Actors needed to conquer themselves before they conquered a character. I associate this with the ancient martial arts theory of ‘emptying your cup’ that Bruce Lee often taught. It is one of the most important parts of the equations of success. Not just in career, but in every area of life. It is why I believe that it’s the first place to begin when embarking upon a big journey like an acting career. Emptying your cup means getting very clear on who you are inside and out. It’s knowing yourself to a point where you are able to be COMPLETELY objective on every matter. This gives you the ability to step inside a character to the fullest, because you are able to set aside your own perception of reality and everything that could potentially stop you from putting yourself in the shoes of another. For me, I have Wonder Woman. To explain, Doctor William Moulton Marston III who created the character was a psychologist and was a study of the human condition. He imbued many of his characters and inventions with breadcrumb clues to these ideas. He even inspired a system for self awareness that I follow which has aided me tremendously over the last 16 years of my life. I encourage everyone to find their own system which offers them that kind of objective awareness. I write a column called “What Would Wonder Woman Do?”, and in March it was about the “Lack Of Truth in Society”. Truth is something that requires personal awareness. Without it, you can not be completely authentic. As you continue your search toward your own system, here are some ideas on how to begin developing personal awareness, which are derived from my article.

BE AWARE OF YOUR ABILITY TO BE COACHABLE When you aren’t coachable, you often miss out on important information. It could be information that could make 100% difference in your life and/or career. In the example of the actress who asked me for advice, I could see where she wanted to go and if you read some of the questions I asked her, I already had some really fantastic suggestions for her to be successful. Unfortunately, she wasn’t open to hearing them and was completely UN-coachable. Some of her language was a little defensive and put up a wall. This is what happens when you’re triggered, and being coachable means understanding those triggers that hold you back from being coachable. Examining what those triggers are, how they got there, and how to work around them will assist you in becoming coachable. In my article, you’ll see that the Ladder Of Inference explains how personal perception can influence present events.  

BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW When we think we know something and assume that we don’t need another perspective that might be different, that will often make us un-coachable. If we come from a place of ‘I already know’ then it immediately shuts off the ability to connect, and also the ability to learn. The opposite will open up the possibility of connection, affinity, and even learning new knowledge. In my situation, the actress that asked me for advice was completely and totally un-coachable even though she came to ME for advice. Being open to what she didn’t know would have given her the ability to gain new knowledge which could have aided her to a more bountiful and successful career. It is important to be able to know the difference between the former and the latter situation. I believe that is to be like Wonder Woman, which is to follow the way of love. When you are being loving you are continually choosing to understand and accept the world around you. I write about this in my article. For me, I like to think of a scientist. He (or she) knows that there are facts and laws in the universe, but they are always testing new things against them for new outcomes and new possibilities. That pure, loving, and inquisitive nature of being open and asking questions will almost always guarantee that you find out things that you didn’t know before. Be your own scientist and like the article says, “Lasso The Truth”!

BE AWARE OF YOUR LIMITATIONS We all have limitations, but very few people are truly aware of what actually creates their limitations. This often leads to people not knowing exactly what their limitations might be. In the case of the female actor who messaged me, she is setting out to work in a market of SAG/AFTRA professionals. This will limit her for many reasons. Without proving to have a strong work history, a strong body of work, a clear concise plan to success, an ability to book (aka adequate practice and developing a system for auditioning) and to do so on the SAG level, she is limiting herself. Specifically, since she is doing so in a primarily non-union market where the SAG work is very limited. In my ‘What Would Wonder Woman Do’ article, about the lack of Truth in Society, I reference a scene written by Phil Jimenez in Wonder Woman #170 where she reveals that she is forced to always be honest with herself due to her having the lasso on her hip. By finding our own ‘magic lasso’ or system to keep ourselves honest we can be more aware of our own limitations. Being honest about them can also lead to more connection and success.

CONCLUSION When you find yourself to not be coachable, are approached by someone who might have some knowledge, or even have a limitation that is being challenged, and you feel resistance; STOP! Take a few breaths and ask yourself, Why am I so resistant? Why do I feel like pushing back on this? What is this reminding me? Then try to replace it with questions. Try to come from a place of innocence and inquisition. Ask questions why what you’re being suggested is a good idea, or even what led to this philosophy. You may actually learn something new that you didn’t know before. Asking these kinds of questions will be easier once you have found your own system of awareness. Some people go to therapy, some go to church, and some have self help gurus. Personally, mine is Wonder Woman and the work influenced by Dr. Marston III. The previous were just a few suggestions on how to begin cultivating your own awareness. Everyone is different and everyone will find their own system. To recap, I have yet to hear from the female actor (actress) who originally sent me her question regarding SAG. I will say this though, it has been nine months now since that question, and after going back to look over her marketing materials, I noticed that there has been absolutely no change. I’ve seen no new videos, clips, or reels added. Her IMDb hasn’t been updated with any new projects, and google still doesn’t show anything about her work in any genre (stage or screen). So whatever she is doing, it’s getting her more of what she had. As for me, I was given a principal contract in a SAG national commercial I shot last week with three celebrities; Two of them have over five million followers and the last has nearly a million followers on Twitter. That being said, I urge you all to find your own system of cultivating your personal awareness to a point where you become more objective, authentic, and inquisitive. It is one of the first steps of the BEING part of ‘Brian’s Bs’ and will assure your success in many areas of life, including career. And if I can do it, then you can definitely do it too! :)

#actor #actors #actress #advice #suggestion #blog #wisdom #wonder woman #wonderwoman #love #questions #scientist #SAG #screen actors guild

[pawpacer]

Midweek Review

Weeks 3-5: Compile survey info, create new screens for Figma Protoype for Play Feature, create 4 personas for users, update fitness screens to include final dog zen dashboard, dog translator options

Lots of progress in lots of areas this week with many on the list and few that are not. I feel like 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. But according to my schedule above, thats about right. Where I wanted or thought I would make progress was within my Figma Prototype for mobile app. And with one simple question, “What does fitness look like?”, I fell into the research rabbit hole.

I am building out my landing page screens for Go Walk, Get Fit, Play Time & the Dog-Friendly Map. I already had the Fitness screen exploration for charts & graphs and had worked out a series of dog pedometer measuring options to track steps without the use of an additional device attached to the dog’s collar. 

PINNABLE ITEM: The discovery here - yes it would be cool to have a mat at the door that can track an accurate gate to provide an average, but you need a device on the collar to really track well. Dogs never walk in a straight line at the same pace.... not ever that I have witnessed for an average walk unless they are running w/ their owners, so much sniffing and peeing and pooping to be done and squirrels to chase or dog butt’s to sniff..... an accurate pace tracker will need to be attached to the collar for a more reliable reading.

The question of the Fitness palette was then asked of one of my SME’s who provided some great insight to designing a lite and dark mode article that looked at why both are now important. The trend to allow both mode’s in the hands of the user is a great point. My app mode is currently dark. And this week I explored shifting that to a more cheery, lighter mode and found I was not all that much a fan.

Take Aways: It’s not as simple as just turning text and elements to black or white. The depth you’re trying to achieve goes missing. Boring and flat is what I encountered. So funny enough I am going from dark to light and apparently the reverse is more common. And it is not to mix and match, go all in dark mode because its an experience for one person. not an “I want both” - I know that is not how I would like it, unless its between programs. I always like to have Adobe Illustrator in white mode, its easier for me to find things on the multiple artboards. Yet in Photoshop I need to have the dark mode on in order to retouch and capture details. 

I need more research in screen and pattern design. I don’t feel like I have the design pattern nailed down yet. I am looking for a modern, clean urban tech vibe -I hope to try to move in that direction this week. Looking at all the possibilities is daunting, I feel like I am just hitting the surface of this whole new UX design style that what I normally design for. I plan on focusing on pattern research this week, rather than problem research, to help move me into the direction of blowing out the rest of the main phone screens I need for testing. After exploring some screen options I know I need to eliminate the top & bottom Nav’s - simple is best and they are not needed. The more looking I do at screens and patterns, the more I am learning what works. 

The process of working screens and the survey at the same time has also now provided insights into the questions I should be asking, such as:

Which light mode people prefer to use?

What time do you like to play with your dog?

Do you like reminders to stay organized?

How often do you walk & do you feel guilty when you don’t?

The accomplishments for the past couple weeks I have:

Learned how to use Adobe Premier Pro to put together all my videos- very basic settings to start gathering for the final deliverable.

Learned how to organize my vast research links & edit the links to be the name of the article in Google Docs- game changer for finding info quickly

Explored what color palette to use and exposed flaws in both- work on dark mode and table lite mode until later if there is time

Got some new screens built for Figma prototype

Checked in w/ my SME regarding Project Proposal & Prototype & implemented feedback already for modes & survey qr code idea

Established 2 additional SME’s including Vet SME & UX SME for help this week on questions & later for UX review

Completed questionaire to send out in Survey Monkey, created QR code for ease of scanning to get to survey & will post flyers in areas that have high traffic dog owners, Pet Store, Dog Park & Vet’s office in addition to all the friends I’ve met along this capstone journey to hopefully get 25 replies to gain insight

Found a dog translator app to use for alerts, will be part of the setup screens to use your own dogs bark for various alerts

To Dos:

Dive into UX pattern research, need a clean modern urban vibe & build out the 4 key features

Talk to advisor about Bibliography & lack of it on previous capstones, what style to use- AP vs Chicago- I do not want to go back to pages to site w/ numbers! would like to site on the page. Afraid my page movements in the deck will be a nightmare to maintain as I’m always shifting pages. 

Finalize screens for initial setup & feature pages. Revert to dark mode throughout or make the change to light. There can be only one to make the deadline at this point. 

Work on the DogZen Dashboard

Use data sources to begin to articulate the 4 users a bit more, fitness minded owner, family pet owner, solo owner, social traveler owner

Send the Survey!

Contact last SME to make time to interview & gain insight 

[spirituallyyours]

Casting with Tools VS Free Casting

I've read a few books that have touched on different methods of spell casting. I have also seen a lot of debates pop up here and there about about casting with tools vs free casting; which is better / which is legit / which is easiest / what is required? Below is a few notes and tidbits I've gathered from books, browsing, and stumbling on other posts. I'm trying to put things in my own words cause I don't have all the sources written down in my notes, only just... well my notes.

Casting with Tools

What I mean by 'casting with tools' is using any object in hand while performing a spell, ritual or magical practice. In example: a wand or an athame. These things can have many shapes, forms, colors, and appearances. I have found that there are general ideas of what it should look like, but it hasn't been a set and golden rule in every reference I have read. We are going to touch on the 'tools' first and then more on the actual idea of casting with 'tools'.

A Quick Note: Every reference I've read said it is important to treat your tools with respect and love. A lot of books and sources have an overwhelmingly strong suggestion that they only be used for magical uses.

The Witch / The Caster

I found this to be the most important tool: yourself. Any intentions or energies that are needed must first be built through you. In this way, you are the core, the required tool, for any work. Treat yourself as such and keep yourself healthy (as can be) and happy (as can be). It is also said that you are the pinnacle tool for the element of the 'Spirit'.

The Athame (a-thAM-ay)

This is a ritual knife that is used in many branches of practice.

They have different names such Yag-Dirk (Scottish Traditions) and Seax (See-ax | Sax Wicca).

It is commonly described as having a black handle and with both the blade sharpened on both sides.

It should fit comfortably in your hand so when in use, it does not waver, fall, or get accidentally thrown.

The blade is sometimes kept dull and only sharpened enough for appearances.

Some people personalize their athame with runes, carvings, sigils, etc.

Some are blades made of metals such as steel, iron, copper; others have them as carved stone or bone.

They can be heirlooms or they can be sacred to the person.

An intricate letter opener has also been used as one. It is never used to actually cut things unless it's related to Kitchen Witchcraft (which may be touched on in a new post).

It is said to be a blade to 'cut' the unwanted energies from the spell.

It is used to draw symbols in the air, or cast a circle, or close one.

It is considered masculine and can be a symbol for the god in some practices.

It is associated with both elements of fire and air depending on who you ask.

If Air: intellect and direction of magic in the air.

If Fire: flames are forged in flames and fire can symbolize transformation.

Can represent south.

If you are eclectic or don't have a specific tradition you follow, pick whichever elemental alignment feels right to you.

The Wand

Normally made of wood, but can be made of other materials such as glass or metals.

Some are as simple as a dowel rod with decorations, others are taken off of trees, and some are bought from shops.

People have different wands because different wood types have different magical properties.

You can use a wand instead of an Athame to draw symbols in the air, cast circles, or close them.

It is considered masculin and can be a symbol for the god in some practices.

Oak, hazel, elder and willow are common woods used.

If you wish to gather from a living tree, many suggest asking the tree first for permission and then waiting until you feel you have it and leave a thank you offering after.

Wands from living trees are suggested to be gathered with a boline (touched on further below) or some other consecrated tool for this purpose.

Some believe that hands made wands by the person who intends to use them are stronger.

It is associated with both elements of fire and air depending on who you ask.

If Air: often waved about in the air.

If Fire: an agent of transformation.

Can represent east.

If you are eclectic or don't have a specific tradition you follow, pick whichever elemental alignment feels right to you.

The Chalice / The Goblet

Use to represent female properties (symbolism of the womb of a woman) and the goddess in some practices.

Can be made of many different materials but do your research on reactions to water and wines or if it is safe to be in contact with foods or drinks.

Ceramic chalices are growing in popularity cause they are easily obtained.

It can represent abundance, fertility, or opening of yourself if it remains empty.

Normally preferred to be silver to represent the color and metal of the goddess but isn't advised cause it can be toxic to drink.

Plastic is NOT recommended as it is not an Earth-sourced material.

Is associated with the element of water.

Can represent west.

The Pentacle / The Pentagram / The Paton

Usually it's a metal or wood disk with with a five-pointed star in a circle inscribed on it for alters.

You can find it in other materials, often pewter for pendants, but a wide variety of materials have been used: wood, clay, stone, and wax.

Can be intricate or simple—looks do not matter except for personal preference.

Crafting one of your own is also doable but it is advised to charge it with positive energy before you make it or as you work on it.

A Paton is found in ceramic or glass but use to be made of disposable materials such as paper to easily hide practices.

It doesn't have to have a five pointed star, but most works associate it with it; meaning it can be any magical symbol, one or more, on top of a disk of some kind.

Can be used as a focal point in magical workings.

Can be used to consecrate magical tools.

(Five Pointed Star in a Circle) Each point represents an element: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Spirit (which is always the point going upward).

Used in association with female and the goddess in some practices.

(Five Pointed Star in a Circle) It is often inscribed on a a great number of objects such as the hilt of an athame or the cover of a Book of Shadows.

(Five Pointed Star in a Circle) Drawn in the air during spell work with Athame or Wand to enhance the power.

(Five Pointed Star in a Circle) Consider a symbol of protection from negative energies or those who may intend harm.

Is associated with the element of earth.

Can represent north.

A Quick Note - Pentacle vs Pentagram: A lot of people use these interchangeably. In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary uses them as pretty much the same word. The argument with definitions instead of words would be as follows:

“A talisman or magical object, typically disc-shaped and inscribed with a pentagram, used as a symbol of the element of earth. // A pentagram // One of the suits in some tarot packs, corresponding to coins in others.” ( https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pentacle ) VS “A five-pointed star that is formed by drawing a continuous line in five straight segments, often used as a mystic and magical symbol.” ( https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/pentagram )

In the end, from my research, it only matters if you want to talk about a magical talisman, in which case, it is better to call it a 'Pentacle', but that doesn't mean it has to have a pentagram on it. It's... confusing. We're moving on.

Some sources consider these as the 'lesser' tools or the ones that are easier to have on hand and to use. It seems to be a good set for general workings—kind of like how you can sketch with a lead pencil but more drastic or important pieces 'should' have professional pencils on the gradient scale. I, personally, find them to be equal in effectiveness. The 'greater' or ceremonial versions share the correspondences of their lesser versions and are as follows: Sword/Athame, Staff/Wand, Cauldron/Chalice.

A Quick Note: In a book called 'Full Contact Magic', the spear is the greater tool of air and the shield is the greater tool of earth, but I have only the one source for the shield... but the book was good IMHO!

The Staff

Much like wands, having multiple staves isn't as uncommon as having multiple wands with different woods and purposes. In some practices, it is seen as having a different purpose than a wand but still related to the element of air, such as being a marker for elemental quarters or a personal tracker of your magical journey.

The Cauldron

The cauldron can represent bounty and blessings, and represent reincarnation and the rebirth cycle. Though it used common to represent water and to scry, it is totally capable of representing fire with a small bonfire within for burning spells or incense.

Other tools that aren't as 'core' as the ones listed above include: broom or besom, bell, robes or clothes, censer or incense burner, boline.

The Broom / The Besom

Used to cleanse a ritual areas.

Jumped over in hand-fasting ceremonies if they wanted children.

Hung by a door with the bristles pointing down to keep out unwanted energies.

A fertility symbol.

The Bell

An uncommon tool but related to the divine.

It is related also to female forces due to it's shape.

Sound is symbolic for creative forces.

Can be used to banish negative energies and invite in positive energy.

It has a wide range of creative uses, such as clearing spaces, or charging materials for spell work, or something as simple as denoting for a group when one section of a spell as ended and/or has moved to the next stage.

The Robes / The Attire

The first option that comes up is skyclad or in the nude, meaning you wear the sky as clothing itself or you bare yourself to the god and goddess in the light of the sky.

Special clothing for magical working should be kept as only that, so that wearing it helps put your mind in the magical mindset.

Robes, cloaks, or a wrap of some kind is a common dedicated ritual attire over comfortable clothes.

Skyclad is an option ONLY if you are comfortable and not breaking laws (don't get in trouble! -SY)

Dedicated jewelry can also work such as a necklace or a ring that has special significance to you.

It can be several things, limited only by what makes you feel the most magical and connected to your work.

Dedicated clothes or jewelry is not required at all in spell working with tools, it simply adds to bringing you into the mindset.

The Censer / The Incense Burner

Represents the elements of Air (the smoke) and Fire (the ember).

Can cleanse a space.

Creates a sacred atmosphere.

Can help bring someone into a state of mind to communicate with the spirit world.

Can be loose herbs in a fireproof dish, incense stick or cone.

The different combination of herbs and smells can help bring different properties to the spell work.

Boline

Commonly a white handled knife, single blade and sharpened.

Blade can be crescent shaped or straight, though crescent is less practical for carving or cutting.

Very similar to the athame in materials.

Some Wiccan traditions don't like to use a blade that has cut animal flesh as a boline but it boils down to personal or tradition choice.

With the exception of kitchen witchcraft, the boline shouldn't be used outside of magical practices and kept with your other tools.

Can be used to cut cords, herbs, ribbons, carve symbols into wood or candles, or shaping a wand, etc.

We've covered the basic tools and some less common ones. There are more that I am sure people have and use but I have not come across as much in my readings. We move to a basic idea of the purpose of using a tool in your magical work.

A tool, by definition, is a hand held device used to carry out a particular function. Thus, these items are to help you channel the energy and spell work to your desired outcome. Actions done with your magic helps to solidify that your actions are magical, that your energy is moving where you will it, that what is being done is not a mundane or common placed action: that it has power. If you have glanced around beyond successful spells, and glanced at failed ones, some key reasons for failure is the lack of confidence in what they were doing. Others are that the universe has decided that now is not the time... but the most common ones I have seen and experienced has been a lack of confidence in what you are doing.

When you channel into your hand, sometimes you are busy looking for a physical sign from yourself that something is happening. Doing this to an item, such as an athame as you direct the energies of your work, can help to cut off the need for a scientific view, and help guide you into the spiritual idea of things.

I am sure that there are many other points to be made by other practitioners who use tools and perform ritual work but I am noticing this post is getting kind of long so I'll move to the next point.

Free casting is when you do a spell with your willpower, concentration, and focused imagery. We all have used a form of free casting: shielding. If you have practice with shielding and energy work while sitting somewhere or meditating, you hare already doing a form of free casting.

When I shield, I imagine a series of vibrant images to form the desired outcome. With confidence in my own strength (not cockiness), a strong sense of energy work and manipulation, I can free cast my shield without so much as shifting my demeanor. If you know what you want done, and have a good amount of practice in the smaller spells, then free casting may be more popular in your work.

It's helpful if you are out and about, and find yourself in need for a small boost or a quick bit of aid in something. I use it a lot when I don't want people to bother me at work (I have social anxiety and work retail). I also use it a lot before going to empathetic situations (such as a funeral). I have done small spells in my car when I am feeling anxious to help myself prevent accidents.

Free casting is simple for the smaller things that Casting with Tools may just take too long to want to have, say, a good day at work. I would say that having a good basis in both is a healthy way to practice actual spell work. Neither is required in all practices, but some may have it's own requirements so I can't say that for sure, all practice as as you see fit. Find what works best with you. If you have a hard time breaking your spiritual mindset from your practical one, then I say work with tools first. If you can very easily put yourself in the moment, in the spiritual vibe that spell work can envoke, then free casting may come more naturally. I find myself doing less ritual work, and more free casting, but I have also made a wide number of witch balls, protection packets, and small good luck charms.

TL:DR Do what makes you feel the most connected with your practice. If you feel silly at any point, perhaps that is simply not the practice for you at this time.

Notes from the Book of Shadows of SpirituallyYours It’s a collection of information I’ve found from multiple sources If you have suggestions, corrections, or anything you think I should know about, feel free to message me and I’ll learn and update for others to know too <3

#spirituallyyoursoriginals #pagan #witch #casting #tools #free cast #casting with tools #not much of an arguement #just my notes #spiritually yours originals

[therapy101]

What To Consider When You’re Considering A Career in Psychology

Your Long Term Goals

The first question you should ask yourself is, are my long-term goals aligned with a career in psychology? 

Take some time to really think about what you want to do as a career. Not what you want to be – what you want to do. How do you imagine your daily work life? What kinds of tasks do you want to do? What kind of setting do you want to work in? Who do you want to interact with (if anyone)? What kind of things would make you miserable in a job? Would you hate to have to be somewhere every day at 8am, or would you hate receiving 11pm emails or phone calls from your team? Do you like doing long-term projects or would you prefer to be truly “done” at the end of your work day? Do you want leadership roles, and if so, what kind? How much money do you want to make? Are there accommodations you might want or need? 

If you’re like me (a lover of organization and lists and planning), then you might want to make some kind of document to organize what you want and what you don’t want. You might want to prioritize them- maybe “working with kids in the foster system” is a necessity but “never being on-call” is a want but not an absolute need. However you want to think about your goals, get a good sense of them, and then compare them to existing sorts of jobs and responsibilities in psychology. (See my “what is a clinical psychologist and how do I become one” post here).

The positive thing here is that careers in psychology are incredibly varied, so you are likely to find paths that will fit your long-term goals (assuming you are interested in psychology, mental health, human services, social sciences, etc., in general). However- one of the pitfalls I have seen a number of people fall into when pursuing psychology is that the position or path they had in mind isn’t actually a great fit for them. So here is a short list of examples where a person’s goals don’t align with their chosen path:

 A person who wants a clinical position but doesn’t want to do paperwork or doesn’t want to have interactions with other people.

 A person who wants to have their own private practice but having a steady and good income is a necessity.

A person who wants to create change in mental health systems but doesn’t want a leadership role.

A person who wants to work with a high needs or high risk group but doesn’t want to work nights or weekends or be on call.

A person who wants to do research but also wants to work for themselves.

I can’t possibly list all the potential matches or mismatches here, so one way to understand what it really means to pursue your long-term goals is to find someone who has the kind of position you want, and ask them lots of questions to see whether the position is really a good fit for you.

Some of these mismatches are negotiable as long as you are flexible- so with the #2 example, a person might choose to get a clinical job with some kind of agency to have a steady income while simultaneously building their private practice. I’m going to talk more about flexibility below, but in short- being as flexible as possible with the specifics can help you achieve the big picture parts of your goals.

Your Personal Qualities

The second question to ask yourself is,

are my personal qualities a good fit with the psychology field in general and my chosen path in particular? 

This is not a question of whether you are “good enough” for psychology. We all have strengths and weaknesses and neutral qualities, and those qualities align better with some paths than others. Psychology is a great fit for me, because I love nuance and complicated questions, have a lot of resilience and perseverance, have empathy but am good at remaining objective, am very calm in a crisis, and am willing to put up with a certain amount of administrative and other bullshit in order to do the things I enjoy. Medicine on the other hand, would not have been a good fit, because I am terrible at memorization, get incredibly nauseous when seeing medical events (let alone being a part of them!), would never be able to keep to a 15 or 20 minute appointment, and would not physically be able to do residency given the huge sleep deprivation residents experience. 

So think about your personality traits, your behavioral habits, your preferences, your physical needs, your learning style- all of it, and then again, compare to what is typically needed for psychologists. Here’s an incomplete list:

Critical thinking skills

Social skills

Communication skills

Ability to take criticism

Ability to assess your skills and weaknesses

Distress tolerance skills

Emotion regulation skills

Conscientiousness

Ability to translate theory into practice

Ability to think quickly

Ability to stay calm and be effective in a crisis

Abstract thinking skills

Ability to integrate multiple sources of information

Ability to separate out subjective opinion versus objective information

Ability to tolerate ambiguity and accept that there’s often “right” answer or “right” solution

Thoughtfulness

Thoroughness

Metacognition (ability to think about your own thinking)

Willingness to work with people (clients) you don’t “like” or agree with

Ability to work as a team

Leadership skills

Writing skills

An adequate understanding or willingness to learn about research methods & statistics

A strong ethical foundation

Willingness to advocate for yourself and others

Ability to tolerate/interact with/be a part of bureaucracy 

Ability to see the “big picture” as well as manage the small details

Organization

Cognitive flexibility

Ability to set your own goals and meet them (without external deadlines or pressure)

Independence

Integrity

Fairness

Cultural competency

Ability to assess your own bias and identify how to manage the impact of that bias

Self-management/self-motivation

Ability to try again after failure

Interest on ongoing learning and training

Interest in innovation and improvement across the discipline

Drive/ambition

I am not saying that if you don’t have all of the skills and qualities, you cannot be a psychologist. Some things you can learn and some you can avoid if you pick positions wisely. But if you find yourself going down this list and struggling to see yourself in these traits in general, or finding them unappealing, then it’s a sign this isn’t right for you.

Education & Training

The third question to ask yourself is a two parter:

1) What kind of education and training is a good fit for me?

This goes back to the idea of some paths being a better fit for your personal qualities than others. If we’re thinking of psychology broadly (so, including PhD/PsyD programs as well as master’s level programs and medical school), the different types of graduate training vary significantly. PhD/PsyD program (the quality ones, anyway) programs are focused on research, clinical training, and scholarship (mostly in that order). Master’s programs are focused on clinical training, with some interest in scholarship and usually minimal interest in research. Medical programs are interested in scholarship initially and then medical (not clinical in the same way) training later, with again minimal interest in research. 

All of that means that the programs have different kinds of approaches and requirements. PhD programs are about critical thinking, deep engagement in the scholarship and then application of theories to clinical work and research, improving clinical practice and outcomes via research, and vice versa- improving research by understanding clinical needs and learning from clinical experiences. A PhD program is for people who love essays, debate, and thinking about things from many angles without coming to an absolute answer. Medical programs are about learning things- biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, diagnostic criteria, etc.- and then applying them effectively and efficiently in medical settings. An MD program is for people who like having the “right” answer, who are doers (as opposed to contemplators, not that these are exclusive), and who are really good at deductive reasoning (and so probably love multiple choice exams).

Master’s programs vary a lot by discipline- social work vs. counseling vs. marital and family therapy vs. other things- so I won’t try to capture all of them fully. But in general a professional master’s- like social work, etc., that lead to a degree –are about learning the primary skills and knowledge you need to be a competent part of that profession. A master’s program is for people who want to get into the field (or out of school) as quickly as possible, who learn quickly and/or through experience rather than school, and who see themselves as being direct contact professionals rather than being in leadership roles.

2) How much post-college training am I willing to do? 

It takes a long time to become a psychologist. (see again my post here). For clinical psychologists, it typically takes 6 years to receive a PhD, and then probably another year to get licensed. You may not be willing to do this- and that’s okay. Think very deeply about your willingness to be in school for a long time, to not make very much money, etc. Maybe it’s worth it to you (it has been for me). But if it isn’t- think about how much you are willing to do. Are you okay with 2 years of a master’s plus a year or so to get licensed? That’s probably the least you can do if you want to be licensed. Again, if that’s not acceptable- that is okay. But you should now start to look at what kinds of jobs you can get in psychology with a BA/BS. Those jobs will make less money and have a lower ceiling in terms of advancement, which might work fine for you, but if they don’t, start looking at other fields. If you’re okay with playing a more administrative role, you could consider those sorts of positions. You can still be a part of a clinical, research, and/or academic team, although with less direct involvement and less money (still pretty okay money, though).

Bonus: If you would like to become a researcher and/or get a faculty position (of any kind), you will probably need to do at least one postdoc, meaning between 2 and 4 (or more) years of training after you receive your PhD. This is a huge commitment. Again, you might be okay with this (I am), but many people are not. Although you might be one of the few who gets a research or faculty job right out of grad school, that is not the likely outcome. So be honest with yourself about how much you are willing to do, and if it will be acceptable to you to take another path if needed.

Financing

Make sure you understand how much it will cost to get your training completed, and compare that against your likely income

(let’s talk more about that, below).

In the past, I would note that one reason to go PhD and/or to pursue the best possible university-based graduate program you can is because you will get more funding. I received tuition remission, health insurance and a (small) stipend while I was in graduate school. This hugely cuts down on the cost of graduate school and may even allow you to complete graduate school without taking out loans. However, as of this writing I don’t know what will become of the tax bill that would tax undergraduate and graduate students for tuition remission. If that passes, the cost of graduate school will significantly increase- and while having tuition remission will still be cheaper than paying tuition, I can’t imagine that not taking any loans will be feasible unless you have another, significant source of income or a lot of savings, etc. If it does not pass (fingers crossed), then my typical advice applies- get yourself to a program that will pay you to go, both because it helps a lot financially and because it’s a sign of a quality program. A PhD or PsyD program that does not pay you to go is of questionable quality- avoid at all costs. Still, most doctoral psychologists take out significant loans- the last average I saw was over 50k on average by the time students were applying to internship (which is very expensive). 

MD programs and medical programs often do charge tuition and may not have much in the way of scholarships or assistantships to help out. In those cases it doesn’t mean as much about the program’s quality. But in either case- make sure you fully understand your prospective financial burden (including cost of living, medical, emergency costs, etc etc) and make sure it is feasible for you while you are in school and that you will have a reasonable way to pay back loans. 

One thing to look at is loan repayment programs. In the United States (again, as of this writing) there are several government-funded programs to repay loans. The Public Service Loan Repayment Program will forgive all loans for people in public service jobs (make sure yours will apply, most psychologists working in public or not for profit agencies will qualify, private practice does not) after making 120 on-time, non-consecutive payments. NIH Loan Repayment Program will pay up to $35,000 per year for two years for psychologists and other researchers in specific positions (again, make sure you will qualify- federal employees do not qualify for this program). There are also a number of programs (federal and not) that will make loan payments for clinicians working in underserved areas and/or with underserved groups- for example, the Indian Health Service often includes loan forgiveness with their job postings because it can be hard to hire clinicians to work with Nations living in more remote areas.

Income

Make sure you understand how much a typical psychologist makes, and look at average income by area and specific job.

According to BLS, the median psychologist made $75,230 in 2016. The range is huge, though, which is why you’ll want to do some digging to see how much psychologists in the position and area you want to be in make. If you’re looking at public jobs like universities and the VA, those salaries are public so you should be able to find good numbers online.

What I want to emphasize to you is that although there are some psychologists who make a lot of money, they are not the norm. Most psychologists are solidly middle class but definitely not upper class. If you want to make a lot of money- or, think you can easily take care of $200,000 of loans with your huge psychology income –think again.

The psychologists who make the most money are: people who specialize in doing high-risk assessments, like forensic assessment or child custody cases (you’ll also need really good liability insurance); people who have leadership roles in big organizations (like, being the director for mental health at a big city VA, or being a dean at a prestigious university); people who have created an assessment that other psychologists are willing to pay a lot of money for; people who are really good at something (usually statistics or a innovate methodology like genetics) and become consultants, often to pharmaceutical companies or similar; people who are really big deal researchers (like Aaron Beck); people providing assessment and/or consultation and/or QI to big institutions with a lot of money (like running the concussion protocol at NFL games) and people who own cash pay private practices in upper class areas. It’s definitely okay to pursue a job like this, but they are competitive and rare, and often more available to people already established in the field as opposed to early career people. So for example, one of my professors consults with groups like the FBI and the NFL, but they have literal decades of experience in their area of expertise and so worked their way up to that point. 

Moving

Make sure you are okay with moving at least once in pursuit of your goals.

Although it is not impossible to stay within one metro area to complete all of your training and then get a job, it is unlikely and not recommended for people in PhD or MD programs- the idea is that by living in different regions and training in different institutions and with different mentors, you get a wider array of experience and training. Master’s programs have fewer steps so although you may move, it’s not unreasonable to stay in one primary place for all of your training. In my case, I have lived in 3 states during my training (all at least 1000 miles away from the others), none of which are my home state. That’s not atypical, so think about whether you’re willing to move several times in pursuit of great training and/or employment opportunities. It’s not absolutely necessary to move that many times, but it’s unlikely you’ll stay in one place throughout. Being “geographically limited” is not an absolute deal-breaker, but the more flexible you can be, the better your chances of getting into a program or getting a job that you really want. Remember that everyone else also wants to be in NYC, California, Boston, etc., so try to expand your horizons to less popular locations and institutions- if they are a good fit for you. There are some really great programs in the Midwest, for example (and not just in Chicago).

Flexibility

Ask yourself, how flexible am I willing to be, both in the journey and in the final(ish) result? There is a saying that it’s important to be flexible in the details as long as you reach your big picture goal, and that applies very well to psychology. If your goal is “Be a tenured professor at UC Berkeley” or “Own a private practice in Manhattan,” those are laudable and exciting goals. But they are both very specific and very ambitious. So again, think about what you really want out of your career. What are the key elements? And then consider how you can be more flexible in the rest. It’s okay to have a dream position at UC Berkeley or a vision of yourself in a practice overlooking Central Park or whatever, but understand that this may not be attainable to you, and it might not end up being the best fit for you. So if you can broaden your goals to include the essential elements but less of the specifics, you come to a more likely but still exciting goal. So for those two examples, you might change them to “Work in a clinical psychology PhD program” or “Have a clinical practice position focused on women’s health.”

You also must consider whether it would be acceptable for you to fail. You may be extremely talented, driven, hard working, and passionate. But this is a competitive field, and no matter how ‘good’ you are, no matter how qualified and competent, you may not get the position you want. That’s true for academia, but it’s also true for other positions. So think carefully- if you fail, if you are rejected, will that be okay? Are you willing to try over and over, even if it means receiving rejection after rejection? Are you okay with changing direction if needed? If only one possible outcome is acceptable to you, and the time you’ve spent will not be worth it unless you reach that goal, then this may not be the right path for you.

Final Question: Do you really understand what you’re getting into?

I have no idea how much research you’ve done or how much you know about the field of psychology in general or your chosen path in particular. But I want to emphasize to you- in case it’s needed –that being a psychologist or being in the field more broadly is not like it may seem from the media. Keep in mind that you are more likely to work in a small windowless office with generic and hideous floral prints on the walls than a beautiful office overlooking the ocean and furnished with a comfy couch for your clients and a leather recliner for you. You will work really hard for your clients and will often not see any improvement, and they may not be grateful to you. You will probably get yelled at, cursed at, threatened, ghosted, and possibly even assaulted by the people you are trying to help. You will work really hard on research projects you truly believe in and have reviewers and editors and mentors tear it to pieces. You will be rejected and condescended to by the leaders of your field. Even though you will be an expert in your area, your clients and colleagues and the public will doubt you. You may suffer from burn out. You may struggle financially. My point is: This is a very hard field. The media often makes it look comfortable and easy, like all you do is wear expensive, somewhat boho clothing and sit in a beautiful room doling out perfect advice to rich and sad white women. Although there are some psychologists who do fit that description, it’s rare. This field is wonderful- truly, I love it –but it is very difficult and you must understand what you’re signing up for. If it’s not a fit for you, figure it out as soon as possible so you don’t waste your time.

Actually, One More Question: Is it worth it to you?

This is my personal criteria for pursuing a graduate degree (of any kind):

1. You will enjoy the training experience itself. AND/OR

2. You should care so much about your chosen field that even if you won’t enjoy the training, it’s worth it to you.

If it’s worth it, and maybe even sounds fun and exciting and enjoyable- do it. If after reading this you find yourself googling “jobs that require only a bachelor’s,” then don’t. This is a wonderful, enriching, important, fulfilling field- but only if it’s worth it to you. If not, there are other careers where you can still help people, advance science, improve health outcomes, understand people, etc. Find the one that works for you.

#therapy101 #post #psychology #careers #grad school

[farinzdickinson-grad701]

Design Research - Referencing (using APA 7th)

During todays session, we were introduced to APA 7th and I have resultantly taken down these notes below for future reference.

APA 7th is the latest edition of the American Psychological Association’s style of referencing. There are many different referencing styles that exist and each have their own advantages and disadvantages.

There are several reasons why referencing is important. For one, it avoids plagiarism of ideas. and upholds intellectual honesty (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d.). It allows you to: distinguish your ideas from others, back up your arguments with evidence, show different perspectives on a topic, and allows authors to be rightfully credited for any ideas and work that are not your own (Massey University, 2020). Referencing also benefits the reader. It allows readers to look into the referenced material themselves to determine if it truly supports the author’s argument the way they stated, as well as the source’s strength and validity (Dickerson & Directors, 2010, as cited in ‘Citation’, 2020). 

In-Text Citations

There are two main parts of referencing. Citations, which are seen in your main text, and entries, which are only seen in your reference list or bibliography. Citations contain limited information, and are used to point the reader to the mentioned source within the reference list. 

There are two ways to present your citations and both should include the author and the date:

Parenthetically (i.e. in brackets)

Narratively

When listing 2 authors, use ‘and’ in a narrative citation, and ‘&’ in a parenthetical one:

When listing 3 or more authors, replace all the names after the first with ‘et al.’.

Citing the same source more than once and using multiple sources for one citation

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is restating ideas from your reference material, but in your own words. It is expected that you use paraphrasing more than quoting when referring to your reference material.

Quotations

There are two different formats used when copying information word-for-word depending on the quote length. Don’t forget to add where in your source it came from e.g. page number, paragraph number, chapter number etc.

Quote is less than 40 words Put the quote within quotation marks (””), and follow it up with your citation

Quote is more than 40 words Don’t use quotation marks. Instead indent your quote:

In writing where the quote is from...

Use p. for the page number or pp. for a page range when citing longer texts

Use paras. for the paragraph number when citing shorter texts

More information about citing quotes: http://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th/in-text#s-lg-box-21221580

Secondary Citations

It is preferred that you read the original source, however, sometimes you want to refer to information that the author of your reference themselves have referenced from something else (which you can’t read). When citing it, you would have to do a secondary citation. Use these sparingly.

To do this, you must include both the original work (the primary source) and the work that references it (the secondary source) in your citation in the following basic format:

You won’t need to include the primary source in your reference list.

Gathering Source Information

This information can look a little different depending on the type of source you are using e.g. books, articles, podcasts, interviews, etc.

In general, there are 4 main parts of a reference:

The author

The title of the source

When it was published

Where the source has come from

Downloading exported citations

Depending on where you find your sources, you can find a downloadable file that has information about your reference. This file will need to be opened in reference management software such as Endnote, Zotero, Mendeley, etc.

RIS files can be opened with all three of the above software, as well as with others. You might need to double check this information as some may be missing or not wholly accurate.

Lack of information

Sometimes despite your best efforts you can’t find all the information you need about your source. Common information that might be missing can include the date and the author’s name. There are a few changes, which are made to your referencing depending on what is missing.

Missing date

Replace the date with ‘n.d.’. The rest of your citation/reference should stay the same.

Missing author

Organisations

Sometimes you may not find the individual author’s name, but you can find the name of a group or organisation. This can be used instead of a person’s name.

For organisations with abbreviated names, your first citation should include the full name and the abbreviation.

Later citations only need the abbreviation.

Anonymous

If the author is listed specifically as ‘Anonymous’, make sure to refer to them as ‘anonymous’ within your citations and references.

Using titles

If you still can’t find any author names, replace the author in your citations with the title of the source instead. If the source is from a journal or article, you will need to write the title within quotation marks (““). With longer titles, shorten it to a few words. For book titles, do not use quotation marks, instead italicise it.

More information about authors and dates: https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th/in-text#s-lg-box-21221455

Organisation

If the authors name is the same as the website, just omit (remove) the website

Common Sources

Common source types you might use include articles, books, webpages, and figures.

More information about other source types, including video, podcasts, games, and more, visit: https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th

Adding Figures

When reproducing figures, you must add them in the following format:

Not all figures will need notes, but they are used to give further details and explanations, as well as copyright attribution. If you have many figures, you may want to label them by including the chapter they appear in e.g. the first figure appearing in chapter 5 is figure 5.1. This saves time having to adjust all the figure values if one is added or removed.

Example:

More information about figures: https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th/figures

Reference Lists vs. Bibliographies

A reference list is made up of all the sources you have cited within your work.

A bibliography is a list made up of all of the sources you have read, regardless of whether they have been used or mentioned in your work.

Usually, you will only need to provide a reference list, but you may be asked to provide a bibliography as well.

Referencing Software

Referencing management tools can quickly help with formating citations and reference lists, and can even help tag and sort them if needed.

The most popular software are Endnote, Zotero, and Mendeley. AUT Library supports Endnote the most. 

Each of these programs have plugins for Word to help you add your citations faster, and can generate reference lists or bibliographies. Zotero can even be used with Google Docs.

Online guides for installing and using software: http://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/c.php?g=843515&p=6028899

Additional Resources

AUT Library’s APA 7th Referencing Style Guide: https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th

Massey University’s Interactive APA tool: https://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/apa-interactive.php